Trump Urges Prosecution of Jack Smith and Others Involved in January 6 Investigation

On Friday evening, former President Donald Trump called for the prosecution of several prominent figures from the Biden administration, including former Special Counsel Jack Smith and former Attorney General Merrick Garland. These remarks were made in response to their roles in investigating Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.

In a post on Truth Social, shared just before embarking on a trip to Asia, Trump also mentioned former FBI Director Christopher Wray and former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. These individuals have frequently been the targets of Trump’s public criticisms.

“Breaking news: Documents unequivocally reveal that Christopher Wray, the unhinged Jack Smith, Merrick Garland, Lisa Monaco, and other corrupt individuals from the unsuccessful Biden Administration approved Operation Arctic Frost,” Trump stated. “They spied on Senators and Congressmen/women, even recording their conversations. They manipulated and rigged the 2020 Presidential Election. These Radical Left fanatics must face prosecution for their illegal and unethical conduct!”

However, the exact documents Trump referred to remain unspecified, as the White House has yet to comment on the claims made by the former president.

Earlier this month, an unclassified document was released by the Senate Judiciary Committee. This document revealed that in 2023, during its investigation into the events of January 6, the FBI scrutinized the phone records of nine Republican members of Congress under the administration of President Biden. Among those examined were Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, and Josh Hawley of Missouri.

The “preliminary toll analysis” conducted by an unnamed special agent was part of the bureau’s “Arctic Frost” investigation, opened in April 2022 by Timothy Thibault, the former assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Washington field office. The investigation preceded Smith’s later effort.

Trump has frequently railed against Smith. Prior to Election Day in 2024, he said the former prosecutor should be “thrown out of the country.”

Last week, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) — another Republican whose phone records were analyzed in 2023 — and other GOP lawmakers requested the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigate Smith. The former special counsel later asked that he be allowed to appear publicly after House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) demanded his testimony.