‘They cheated!’ Trump calls for new wave of prosecutions in late night tirade

President Donald Trump called for the prosecution of several former Justice Department officials late Friday night over allegations that Republican lawmakers’ communications were monitored as part of the DOJ’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Earlier this month, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, shared a report that revealed that eight Senate Republicans had their communications monitored by the DOJ under the Biden administration.

Among the top-ranking DOJ officials at the time were Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, FBI Director Christopher Wray and DOJ attorney Jack Smith, all of whom Trump directly named Friday in a late-night social media post.

“Just in: Documents show conclusively that Christopher Wray, Deranged Jack Smith, Merrick Garland, Lisa Monaco, and other crooked lowlifes from the failed Biden Administration, signed off on Operation Arctic Frost,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

“They spied on Senators and Congressmen/women, and even taped their calls. They cheated and rigged the 2020 Presidential Election. These Radical Left Lunatics should be prosecuted for their illegal and highly unethical behavior!”

Republicans have called the DOJ’s investigation into Republicans over their alleged involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election “worse than Watergate,” and Trump has latched on to the report’s findings to single out former DOJ officials for prosecution.

Trump’s calls for individuals to be prosecuted has already been followed up on by his DOJ, with former FBI Director James Comey having been indicted this month, as was New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis – the prosecutor who brought election interference charges against Trump – reportedly under investigation.