An FBI official who appears to have been involved in the early stages of what became special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into President Donald Trump is still working for the bureau.
Senate Judiciary Chair Sen. Chuck Grassley released emails July 15 detailing how the FBI and DOJ searched for ways to initiate an investigation into meetings they believed took place between Trump’s team at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. ahead of Capitol riots on Jan. 6.
The Washington Post reported in October 2021 that the Willard Hotel was the “command center” for efforts to “overturn” the 2020 election results.
Wayne Jacobs, a special agent in charge of the Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber division at the time, is copied on many of the conversations. Former FBI Director Christopher Wray promoted Jacobs to special agent in charge of the Philadelphia Field Office, where he currently still works, in November 2023.
The FBI declined to comment on Jacobs’ employment. Jacobs could not be reached.
6/ And Jacobs continued with the crew as they opened “Arctic Frost” to target Trump. pic.twitter.com/YtTYGBNxmx
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) July 15, 2025
The emails released by Grassley contain a list of possible investigative steps drafted by DOJ prosecutor Thomas Windom, who later became a key member of Smith’s team, in January 2022. The list includes subpoenas for occupants of Willard Hotel rooms and security camera footage between January 1-7, 2021.
“Thanks for sending,” Jacobs wrote in a Jan 13, 2022 email after FBI Agent Timothy Thibault shared the document of potential investigative steps with him. “Certainly interested in a read out from the meeting when you get it.”
Thibault indicated the Washington Field Office was “hard at work attempting to predicate a Preliminary Investigation, which would allow us to conduct many of the investigative activities Thomas has identified in his plan” in a March 2, 2022 email. While Thibault believed the FBI could open an “assessment,” only a preliminary investigation would not allow them to take the actions Windom requested.
Thibault played a key role in the FBI’s “Arctic Frost” investigation, which was approved in April 2022, that formed the basis for Smith’s election interference case against Trump, according to emails released by Grassley.
“Yet again, we see that crooked Biden-era FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors started with a conclusion and tried to fit in the data points after the fact,” Grassley said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “That’s the opposite of how real investigative work should be done. For these obsessive anti-Trump agents and prosecutors, the sole objective was to pin anyone connected to President Trump on potential criminal charges, no matter how remote the connection. None of this information would have been realized without patriotic whistleblowers, who are working with Congress to bring to light evidence of high-level corruption during the past administration.”
The Oversight Project suggested on X that the email release shows Jacobs had “a serious conflict of interest,” noting his wife Soumya Dayananda worked as a principal investigator for the Jan. 6 Committee. The Oversight Project filed a FOIA request in May to determine whether Jacobs ever recused himself.
“[W]hen the federal indictment came down about his efforts to overturn the election, it was—the instant reaction was that it was validating for the committee’s work,” Dayananda told PBS in October 2023. “And I think the news broke. I rushed home to watch [special counsel] Jack Smith’s press conference and read the indictment word for word, and was really impressed to see the work that myself and our colleagues had put together, the fact-gathering, kind of repackaged in the form of this indictment, with the conspiracy laid out.”
Grassley also asked Wray in August 2022 whether Jacobs was “recused from any involvement in the January 6 investigations,” as well as the basis for any recusal.
While Jacobs remains, Windom’s LinkedIn indicates that he left the department in January.
Thibault likewise resigned in 2022. Grassley accused Thibault of “improper conduct” in the Hunter Biden probe and highlighted his partisan bias, which included sharing anti-Trump content on social media.
The DOJ fired 20 employees Friday who worked on Smith’s Trump prosecutions, including two prosecutors. More than a dozen officials were fired in connection with the cases in January.
Though Smith attempted to have Trump tried ahead of the 2024 election and spent more than $50 million on his efforts, both of his cases ultimately failed when Trump won.
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