Judicial Watch Sues for FBI Public Corruption Unit Records on Lawfare against Trump

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for records regarding the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Public Corruption Unit’s investigation of Donald Trump codenamed “Arctic Frost.” The investigation was part of an unprecedented effort by the Biden administration to prosecute and jail Trump for questioning Biden’s controversial election victory (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:26-cv-00163)). 

Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the FBI failed to respond to an October 7, 2025, FOIA request for the Washington Field Office’s Public Corruption Unit (the “CR-15” squad) investigative reports on Operation Arctic Frost, Justice Department approvals for investigative steps or techniques, and communications with former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office. 

Arctic Frost was opened in April 2022 under the Biden administration.

In January 2025, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) publicized records about the targeting of Trump:

Internal FBI emails and predicating documents provided to Grassley and released jointly by the two senators show Timothy Thibault, a former FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) who was forced to retire from the Bureau after Grassley exposed his public anti-Trump bias, authored the initial language for what ultimately became Jack Smith’s federal case against Trump regarding the 2020 presidential election. Records show Thibault essentially opened and approved his own investigation.

On October 6, 2025, Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, revealed that he had obtained an explosive FBI document which shows the Biden FBI targeted eight Republican senators’ personal cell phones for “tolling data” as part of the Arctic Frost investigation.

 After the revelations were made public, FBI Director Kash Patel abolished the CR-15 squad.

“Judicial Watch is fighting for a full account of how the Biden team weaponized the full weight of the federal government to target their political foes,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

Judicial Watch is a national leader in exposing the lawfare and abuse targeting Trump and other American citizens.

In January 2026, Judicial Watch sued the Justice Department for communications of FBI agents regarding the prosecution of former Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No.1:26-cv-00079)).

In November 2025, Judicial Watch sued the Justice Department for the emails of former Special Counsel Jack Smith with officials in Georgia and New York and with the White House, congressional and law enforcement offices regarding his investigation into Trump (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:25-cv-03849)). 

In September 2025, Judicial Watch sued the Justice Department for communications between former Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault and the anti-Trump organization American Oversight (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:25-cv–02556)). 

In July 2025, Judicial Watch sued the Justice Department for records about the FBI’s “Arctic Frost,” investigation (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:25-cv-02011)). 

In June 2025, Judicial Watch sued Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes for her communications with Smith (Judicial Watch v. Kristin Mayes and Arizona Department of Law (CV 2025-020674).

In March 2025, Judicial Watch sued the Justice Department for details of any investigations, inquiries, or referrals concerning potential misconduct of any person working for Smith (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:25-cv-00801)). 

Also in March, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis was ordered to turn over 212 pages of records to a state court judge. The court also ordered Willis to detail how the records were found and the reason for withholding them from the public. The records were belatedly found in response to a Judicial Watch request and lawsuit for communications with Smith and the House January 6 Committee (Judicial Watch Inc. v. Fani Willis et al. (No. 24-CV-002805)). 

In January 2025, a federal court ordered the Justice Department to provide Judicial Watch information on communications between Special Counsel Jack Smith and Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis regarding the prosecution of Trump. In May, the Justice Department was directed to search text messages from the Special Counsel’s Office for responsive records (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 23-cv-03110).

Also in January 2025, records from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) showed it and the FBI warning that law enforcement agencies should be prepared for a surge in threats from so-called Domestic Violence Extremists (DVEs) following the August 8, 2022, FBI raid on former Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (1:22-cv-03275)).

In May 2024, Judicial Watch uncovered a recording of a phone message left by an FBI special agent for someone at the Secret Service in the context of the raid on Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:22-cv-03147)).

In February 2024, the Justice Department asked a federal court to allow the agency to keep secret the names of top staffers working in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office that was targeting Trump and other Americans (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:23-cv-01485)). 

In August 2022, Judicial Watch successfully sued to unseal the search warrant affidavit used to justify the unprecedented raid on the home of then-former President Trump (U.S. v. Sealed Search Warrant (No. 9:22-mj-08332)).

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