It was publicly revealed on Monday that former President Joe Biden's FBI, along with ex-Special Counsel Jack Smith, spied upon and tracked the cell phone data of at least eight Republican senators and one Republican congressman in connection with alleged 2020 election meddling and the January 6 Capitol riot of 2021.

Less than a day later, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that he'd fired the agents involved and "dismantled" the "corrupt" squad that ran that partisan investigation, according to the New York Post.

That announcement was likely music to the ears of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who exposed the subversive probe a day earlier and told reporters that nothing would change "if heads don't roll" as a consequence.

"We fired those who acted unethically"

In an X post on Tuesday, FBI Director Patel wrote of the now-former agents who'd investigated Republican lawmakers, "They tracked the communications of GOP Senators. They weaponized law enforcement against the American people. That era is over."

"We fired those who acted unethically, dismantled the corrupt CR-15 squad, and launched an investigation. Transparency and accountability aren’t slogans, they’re promises kept," he added.

Patel included in his post a screenshot of a Fox News article that detailed the "swift action" taken by the Bureau following the revelation that the communications of certain Republican legislators had been monitored by the FBI and former Special Counsel Smith as part of their anti-Trump investigations.

In a statement to the media outlet, the Director said, "We are cleaning up a diseased temple three decades in the making -- identifying the rot, removing those who weaponized law enforcement for political purposes, and those who do not meet the standards of this mission while restoring integrity to the FBI. I promised reform, and I intend to deliver it."

CR-15 squad was rolled up in May

NBC News reported in May that the FBI had begun the process to dismantle one of three public corruption units within the Bureau's Washington Field Office, known as CR-15, which had launched the so-called "Arctic Frost" investigation in 2022 against then-former President Donald Trump and his allies, which later morphed into one of then-Special Counsel Smith's two failed efforts to prosecute and imprison Trump.

At that time, citing multiple sources familiar with the reorganization, it was noted that the special agents involved in the CR-15 unit had been reassigned to other squads, as well as that public corruption cases would continue to be investigated by that field office.

That move had followed the initial disclosures of Sen. Grassley and his Judiciary Committee about the partisan anti-Trump probes launched and led by the CR-15 squad, and the chairman said at the time, "My oversight has shown time and again how the FBI’s CR-15 unit was weaponized to execute one-sided political attacks, particularly against President Trump and his allies."

"It’s good news it’s been shut down after I exposed the unit for its misconduct," he added. "Transparency brings accountability, and the FBI must ensure all records are preserved as my investigations continue."

"If heads don’t roll in this town, nothing changes"

According to an ABC News report on Monday, Chairman Grassley revealed that the FBI and then-Special Counsel Smith in 2023 had obtained and analyzed the cell phone data, but not the content of calls, of several Republican lawmakers for the few days surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, as part of its broader "Arctic Frost" probe into allegations that President Trump had attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The senator said the subpoenas for phone records, which had been secretly authorized by a grand jury, were a "violation of personal property and people’s rights and the law and their constitutional rights."

Grassley added that his Senate committee would not be investigating the matter any further, as he trusted FBI Director Patel to handle the situation, but suggested that those who'd been involved needed to be fired, given the fact that "If heads don’t roll in this town, nothing changes."