Judicial Watch has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Justice seeking records related to the FBI’s investigation of President Trump known as “Arctic Frost.”
The probe was part of the Biden administration’s effort to prosecute and imprison Trump over his challenges to the 2020 election. The original FOIA request, submitted on January 30, 2025, asked for all reports, notes, summaries, interview transcripts, and related records concerning the Arctic Frost investigation. The FBI, a component of the Justice Department, did not respond, prompting the legal action.
Details about the Arctic Frost investigation first became public in January 2025 when Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin released internal FBI emails and other documents. The records revealed that Timothy Thibault, a former FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge forced out of the Bureau after Grassley exposed his anti-Trump bias, drafted the initial language for what became Special Counsel Jack Smith’s federal case against Trump over the 2020 election. Thibault both opened and approved the investigation, which the FBI codenamed “Arctic Frost.”
The records also show that Richard Pilger, an official in the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, reviewed and approved the Arctic Frost probe, clearing the way for a full criminal and grand jury investigation. That case later developed into the Trump elector prosecution.
The lawsuit is Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:25-cv-02011) and was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Read the Judicial Watch Press Release
