Judicial Watch Sues Justice Depart for FBI Communications Celebrating Prosecution of Trump Adviser Peter Navarro

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for communications of Federal Bureau of Investigation (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)). 

Judicial Watch sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the Justice Department failed to respond adequately to a May 2, 2025, FOIA request for:

• Records and communications of Special Agent Walter Giardina; Supervisory Special Agent Blaire Toleman; and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault about the investigation, arrest, indictment, or prosecution of Peter Navarro – to include contempt of Congress referrals regarding Navarro or any former Trump administration officials.

Giardina was fired from the FBI in 2025, Toleman also was fired in 2025, and Thibault resigned in 2022.

Navarro was sentenced on January 24, 2024, to four months in prison for refusing to appear before the U.S. Congress to give testimony and produce documents as required by a subpoena he received from the Democrat-led Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.

In April 2025 Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) issued a letter to the Justice Department and FBI pointing out the results of an initial search into the FBI’s political weaponization against Navarro. In May 2025 Grassley released a few FBI emails showing Biden FBI agents planning and celebrating the indictment of Navarro.  

“The politicization of the Justice Department and FBI against President Trump and his advisors is a disgrace,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “The lives of outstanding public servants were derailed.” 

Judicial Watch has actively pursued transparency for the lawfare waged against Trump.

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 President-elect Donald 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 June 2025, Judicial Watch launched a related lawsuit against the Justice Department for records about the FBI’s investigation of Trump codenamed “Arctic Frost,” which was part of the Biden administration effort to prosecute and jail President Trump for disputing Biden’s controversial election victory (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:25-cv-02011)). 

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 Special Counsel Jack 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 disclosed in response to a Judicial Watch request and lawsuit for communications with Special Counsel Jack Smith and the House January 6 Committee.

In January, Judicial Watch was awarded $21,578 for “attorney’s fees and costs” incurred in the case. The court previously found Willis in default and stated: “The Court finds Defendant [Willis, in her official capacity] is in default and has been since 11 April 2024” (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 Willis regarding the prosecution of then-former President Donald 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).

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 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 Mar-a-Lago home (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 Trump’s home (U.S. v. Sealed Search Warrant (No. 9:22-mj-08332)). 

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