President Donald Trump late Tuesday night accused former President Joe Biden's administration of having tried to force conservative leader Charlie Kirk and his organization, Turning Point USA, "out of business" through a wide-ranging election probe led by special counsel Jack Smith.
His comments on Truth Social came after Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, revealed earlier in the day that Kirk's organization had been one of the Republican-linked groups targeted by Arctic Frost, the FBI's investigation that began with Smith's electors charge against Trump.
"Why was the wonderful Turning Point under INVESTIGATION by 'Deranged' Jack Smith and the Corrupt & Incompetent Biden Administration?" Trump posted on his Truth Social page. "They tried to force Charlie, and many other people and movements, out of business. They Weaponized the Justice Department against Sleepy Joe Biden's Political Opponents, including ME!"
He added that "they allowed the daughter of a Judge, on one of the corrupt trials against me, to become the biggest fund raiser for Biden and [former Vice President] Kamala [Harris], making many Millions of Dollars for herself and her family, but with her father, the Judge, not only refusing to RECUSE himself, but putting a gag order on me, not allowing ANY talk about their family corruption and unprecedented conflict of interest. Every leading legal analyst and pundit said this trial was wrong and should not have been allowed to go forward. But it did because of a Corrupt Judge who will hopefully pay a very big price for his illegal actions, someday!"
Grassley, in his opening statement Tuesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee's FBI oversight hearing, started with a brief moment of prayer for Kirk and praised the work done by FBI Director Kash Patel, who was questioned during the hearing.
The senator went on to accuse the FBI of becoming "infected with politics" during the Biden administration and said that the Arctic Frost investigation was "much broader than an electoral matter."
The operation, he added, was "a vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and Department of Justice prosecutors could achieve their partisan ends and improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus."
Trump has long maintained that Smith and the Biden administration weaponized the Justice Department against him and his allies.
Arctic Frost was launched in 2022 under then-FBI Director Christopher Wray and was used as the basis for Smith to bring criminal charges against Trump.
"Some examples of the groups the Wray FBI sought to place under political investigation included the Republican National Committee, Republican Attorneys General Association, and Trump political groups," Grassley said Tuesday. "On that political list was one of Charlie Kirk's groups, Turning Point USA. In other words, Arctic Frost wasn't just a case to politically investigate Trump."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.