President Donald Trump demanded that former Special Counsel Jack Smith be hauled off to jail amid the political leader’s repeated, sweeping calls for the prosecution and jailing of his perceived political opponents.
In a Truth Social post Wednesday, Trump complained that “these thugs should all be investigated and put in prison.”
He added, “A disgrace to humanity. Deranged Jack Smith is a criminal!!!” alongside an article titled, “More than 160 Republicans potentially investigated in FBI’s Arctic Frost probe, House panel says.” The piece was published by right-leaning outlet Just the News Tuesday.
Trump’s post came after Axios reported that 160 Republican figures may have been investigated amidst the FBI’s Arctic Frost probe into alleged efforts by Trump’s allies to overturn the 2020 election, according to newly released documents.
Trump followed up his calls for Smith’s arrest in a separate fiery Truth Social post Thursday.
“He is a CRIMINAL AND SHOULD BE IN JAIL. A MAJOR LOWLIFE AND FAILURE. An ugly person, both inside and out! I beat him badly, and love watching him squirm now,” he wrote.
Alongside the pointed message, Trump included a link to another article from Just The News titled, “FBI memo opening Arctic Frost probe into Trump was thin on evidence and justification, experts say.”
The probe is “thin on evidence and legal justifications, according to former prosecutors and FBI agents who found significant deficiencies when they reviewed the newly released document,” the article said.
The article went on to say, “The probe code named ‘Arctic Frost’ was led by an openly anti-Trump FBI supervisor, was eventually taken over by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith and treated the effort by Trump’s allies to submit alternate electors to Congress to sway the certification of the 2020 election as a criminal conspiracy, even though two prior episodes in American history were not prosecuted as crimes.”
While NBC News reports that Trump was targeting Smith with his Oct. 30 post, it’s unclear who he was referring to in his vague post as he didn’t name Smith directly.
However, Lanny Breuer, an attorney for Smith, apparently responded to Trump’s posts in a statement to NBC News saying, “As we informed congressional leaders last week, Jack is happy to discuss his work as Special Counsel and answer any questions at a public hearing just like every other Special Counsel investigating a president before him has done.”
Breuer added, “We hope the House and Senate Judiciary Committees will agree so the American people can hear directly from him. Name the time and place. Jack will be there.”
Breuer didn’t immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Meanwhile, in a new letter sent Thursday to the House and Senate Judiciary Committee leaders, Smith has asked that he be allowed to testify publicly after House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) called on him to testify behind closed doors first.
“Given the many mischaracterizations of Mr. Smith’s investigation into President Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents and role in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Mr. Smith respectfully requests the opportunity to testify in open hearings before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees,” his attorneys wrote in the Oct. 23 letter.
Elsewhere in the letter, Smith’s lawyers requested reassurance from the DOJ that he “will not be punished” for testifying. Smith is also seeking “guidance” regarding “federal grand jury secrecy requirements and authorization on the matters he may speak” about that are not publicly available.
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