On Friday night, former President Trump suggested that former special counsel Jack Smith, ex-Attorney General Merrick Garland, and other officials from the Biden administration “should be prosecuted” due to their roles in investigations concerning his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
In a post on Truth Social before embarking on a trip to Asia, Trump also called out former FBI Director Christopher Wray and former Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. These officials are, it seems, regular targets of his criticism.
In his post, Trump claimed, “Invasion: Documents conclusively show that Christopher Wray, deranged Jack Smith, Merrick Garland, Lisa Monaco, and other miscreants of the failed Biden administration authorized Operation Arctic Frost.” He further alleged that they had spied on lawmakers and even recorded their calls, accusing them of rigging the 2020 presidential election. “These radical left lunatics should be prosecuted for their illegal and highly unethical actions!” he stated.
It’s not entirely clear what documents Trump was alluding to. The Hill has reached out for comments from the White House.
Earlier this month, the Senate Judiciary Committee released some unclassified documents. The FBI indicated that it analyzed phone records of nine Republican members of Congress in an investigation related to January 6, which took place under President Biden’s administration. Those investigated included Senators Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), Bill Hagerty (Tennessee), and Josh Hawley (Missouri).
The “preliminary toll analysis” was conducted by an anonymous special agent as part of the bureau’s “Arctic Frost” investigation, initiated in April 2022 by Timothy Thibault, a previous assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Washington field office. This probe came before Smith’s later actions.
Trump has often criticized Smith. As the 2024 election approaches, he stated that the former prosecutor should be “banished from the country.”
Recently, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), whose phone records were also reviewed in 2023, alongside other Republicans, urged the Department of Justice to investigate Smith. Following this, Smith requested permission to appear in public after House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) sought his testimony.
