FBI Director Kash Patel shared a picture of what he said was a ‘self-awarded’ trophy made by former FBI officials to celebrate Operation Arctic Frost, an investigation launched after the 2020 election targeting President Donald Trump and his allies.
The bizarre metallic-colored, 3D-printed award featured ‘AF’ with a lightening bolt and dollar sign printed along its body and a raised map of the U.S. on its base, which also included miniature buildings and infrastructure. ‘CR-15’ was printed along the base. CR-15 is a now-disbanded FBI unit that served as a public corruption squad.
‘People ask why I said the old FBI was a diseased temple,’ Patel wrote on X. ‘This is what corruption looks like when it thinks no one is watching.
‘I disbanded CR-15 and removed the corrupt actors involved,’ he continued. ‘So when legacy media cries that President Trump’s FBI fired people and made sweeping changes, I have one response: You’re damn right we did.’
Patel made his comments as Republican lawmakers continue to raise alarms about the FBI’s Arctic Frost probe, which later fed into former special counsel Jack Smith’s work.
In October, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., unveiled 197 subpoenas they said the Biden-era FBI used to seek testimony and documents from hundreds of Republicans and GOP entities.
Johnson called the subpoena list ‘nothing short of a Biden administration enemies list,’ arguing Arctic Frost was used to improperly investigate the Republican political apparatus.
Smith, whose team used Arctic Frost in mounting charges tied to the 2020 election that were later dismissed after Trump’s victory in 2024, has defended his work and appeared on Capitol Hill to face questions from the House Judiciary Committee.
Republicans have criticized Smith for seeking gag orders against Trump during his presidential campaign; fast-tracking court proceedings; subpoenaing records and phone data of Trump-aligned individuals and entities, including members of Congress; and approving $20,000 in payments to an FBI confidential human source to gather intelligence on Trump, a source told Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital’s Ashley Oliver contributed to this report.
