Before Special Counsel Jack Smith filed charges against former President Donald Trump, his investigators attended a meeting at the White House. There is no indication that Joe Biden himself was involved in this meeting, but that hardly matters. This is an alarming revelation and House Republicans are now targeting Smith’s office to find out why the prosecutor’s team met with Biden staffers before charging the man who is likely to be the incumbent’s 2024 challenger.
The House Judiciary Committee has written to the White House and to Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding answers. “This new information raises serious concerns regarding the potential for a coordinated effort between the Department and the White House to investigate and prosecute President Biden’s political opponents,” wrote Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who chairs the committee.
Republicans want to see all communications regarding the meeting with Jack Smith’s investigators, in addition to any relevant communications between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the White House. In the letters, the committee requested that the materials be turned over by Sept. 12.
Jack Smith Oversteps Yet Again
Jack Smith, who has a history of prosecutorial overreach, would have had no legitimate reason to speak with anyone in the Biden White House regarding his investigation of Trump. None of Biden’s staff were at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when Trump was in office, so they wouldn’t have been able to provide the special counsel with information relevant to his investigation. Additionally, Smith had no reason and certainly no duty to confer with the White House before charging the 45th president. The special counsel’s office has declined to comment publicly on the matter.
Jack Smith (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Jack Smith is going after Mr. Trump for questioning the 2020 result in addition to the alleged mishandling of classified documents. Smith’s senior aide, Jay Bratt, apparently met multiple times with White House personnel before the special counsel filed charges against the former president.
“In September 2021, Mr. Bratt reportedly met with an advisor to the White House Chief of Staff,” Jordan wrote in a letter to current White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients. “Two months later, in November 2021, Mr. Bratt again went to the White House to meet with Administration officials.” The Judiciary Committee chair also cited a further meeting, on March 31, 2023, between Bratt, the White House Counsel’s Office Deputy Chief of Staff Caroline Saba, and FBI Special Agent Danielle Ray.
Jordan further alleges that Bratt “improperly pressured a lawyer representing an employee of President Trump to induce the lawyer’s client to cooperate with the Department’s prosecution.” The lawyer in question had applied for a judgeship on the Washington, DC, Superior Court. Bratt allegedly told this lawyer that his application would be viewed more favorably if he got his client to cooperate with the special counsel’s prosecution of Mr. Trump.
Biden was recently described by House Oversight Committee James Comer (R-KY) as the most corrupt vice president in US history. If the investigation didn’t already smell of political motivation, a meeting between prosecutors and the president’s staff leaves the pursuit of Trump by Jack Smith with at least the appearance of being tainted. Even if nothing nefarious were going on, Republicans saw such meetings as entirely inappropriate.
