Washington, D.C. is in shambles. That makes them dangerous.
And that’s when Congress sent an eyebrow-raising letter to the Biden-Harris admin.
House Judiciary Committee Demands Transparency Over Special Counsel’s Investigations of President-elect Trump
The House Judiciary Committee is expressing growing concern over the possibility that special counsel Jack Smith and his team of prosecutors might attempt to “purge” critical records related to their investigations of President-elect Donald Trump. The committee has demanded that Smith produce all documents pertaining to these probes before the end of November.
In a letter to Smith dated Friday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) raised alarms over recent reports suggesting that prosecutors in Smith’s office were exploring “legal options” should President Trump win the election. The letter suggests that there is growing concern that the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) might destroy or withhold records related to its investigations in an effort to avoid oversight.
Jack Smith should preserve all records.
w/@RepLoudermilk pic.twitter.com/OOMS8uKS9q
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) November 8, 2024
“The Committee on the Judiciary is continuing its oversight of the Department of Justice and the Office of Special Counsel,” Jordan and Loudermilk wrote. “According to recent public reports, prosecutors in your office have been ‘gaming out legal options’ in the event that President Donald Trump won the election. With President Trump’s decisive victory this week, we are concerned that the Office of Special Counsel may attempt to purge relevant records, communications, and documents responsive to our numerous requests for information.”
The letter emphasized that the OSC is not exempt from transparency and accountability. “We reiterate our requests, which are itemized in the attached appendix and incorporated herein, and ask that you produce the entirety of the requested material as soon as possible but no later than November 22, 2024,” they wrote.
The committee’s demands include specific requests for information about the involvement of FBI personnel in Smith’s team, a request that was first made in June 2023. The lawmakers are seeking to determine whether any FBI employees who worked on the special counsel’s team had previously been involved in investigations concerning Trump. Additionally, they are renewing several requests from earlier in 2023 for documents related to key individuals and events, including records concerning Smith and prosecutor Jay Bratt’s visits to the White House, documents related to Trump’s lawyer Stanley Woodward, and communications between Attorney General Merrick Garland and Smith’s office.
These actions come as the Department of Justice (DOJ) seeks to wind down two major criminal investigations into President Trump’s conduct. As Trump prepares to be sworn in for a second term in the White House, DOJ officials are grappling with long-standing legal policy preventing the prosecution of a sitting president. This policy, based on a 2000 memo from the Office of Legal Counsel, asserts that investigating a sitting president would violate the separation of powers doctrine and could unduly interfere with the President’s ability to perform his duties.
The memo concludes that an impeachment proceeding is the only appropriate course of action for dealing with a sitting president, rather than a criminal investigation.
As part of his duties, Special Counsel Jack Smith is overseeing an investigation into Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified records. Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges arising from that probe. However, a federal judge in Florida ruled in favor of Trump, dismissing the case entirely and declaring Smith’s appointment as special counsel to be improper and unlawful.
Smith is also heading an investigation into potential interference in the 2020 presidential election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to these charges, and his legal team has argued that he is immune from prosecution for actions taken while in office. This argument was taken to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that Trump could not be prosecuted for official presidential acts. As a result, Smith was forced to refile an indictment, and Trump again pleaded not guilty to the new charges.
Trump’s legal team is now seeking to have the election interference charges dismissed in Washington, D.C., based on the same argument that Smith’s appointment was unlawful.
The escalating investigations and legal challenges surrounding President-elect Trump’s conduct have raised questions about the transparency of the special counsel’s office and its potential impact on the incoming administration.
During Donald Trump’s first term, there were plenty of unelected officials in the executive branch of the federal government who made it their mission to counter every single one of Donald Trump’s moves. Trump supporters are now concerned that the efforts to usurp Donald Trump will be even stronger now in his second term.
Who can forget how the establishment political class was preparing to impeach Donald Trump before he was even inaugurated in 2017 over a fake Russiagate scandal that everyone knew was bologna? Those establishment cronies are not all gone. Far from it.
Surely, they’ll be incentivized to try and hide any and all evidence of the Joe Biden administration going after Donald Trump for politically-motivated reasons to prevent his second term. It’ll be interesting if anything turns up during the second Trump term.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
