WASHINGTON – The House Judiciary Committee demanded on Tuesday that the Biden administration explain why a prosecutor working for special counsel Jack Smith visited the West Wing ahead of former President Donald Trump’s impeachment for alleged mishandling of classified national security records.
Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland and White House chief of staff Jeff Zients requesting all documents related to three meetings known to attorney Jay Bratt in the executive house, first reported Saturday by The Post.
“According to recent reports, Jay Bratt – a Justice Department employee and top aide to Special Counsel Jack Smith – met with White House officials several times, just weeks before Mr. Smith indicted former President Donald Trump,” Jordan wrote.
“This new information raises serious concerns about a potential coordinated effort between the Department and the White House to investigate and prosecute political opponents of President Biden.”
Jordan asked “[a]ll documents and communications that refer to or relate to any appointments, meetings or other visits by Mr. Bratt to the White House or the Executive Office of the President” and those “between the Executive Office of the President and the Department of Justice that refer to or relate to the investigation and/or prosecution of Special Counsel Jack Smith.
The House Judiciary Committee is demanding documents related to Justice Department attorney Jay Bratt’s visit to the White House.DOJ
Bratt is an assistant to special counsel Jack Smith.AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File
The request can turn into a legally binding subpoena if the records are not provided.
Jordan wrote that “this letter serves as a formal request to preserve all existing and future records and materials related to Mr. Bratt’s appointments, meetings and visits.”
The White House and Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Bratt has visited the West Wing three times since Biden took office, according to the White House visitor log — including for one meeting after he joined Smith’s team in November 2022.
Rep. Jim Jordan wrote that the White House visit “raises serious concerns” about a potential coordinated effort between the DOJ and the White House to “investigate and prosecute political opponents of President Biden.” Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
Bratt’s White House meeting on March 31, 2023, held months before former President Donald Trump was first indicted by Smith.AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Bratt met at the White House on March 31, 2023, with Caroline Saba, deputy chief of staff for the White House counsel’s office, and Danielle Ray, an FBI agent in the Washington field office, showing the log.
A spokeswoman for Smith’s office said the visit was for a “case-related interview” and people familiar with the meeting said it was “an interview of a career official who also worked in the White House during the Trump Administration.”
Nine weeks later, on June 8, Trump was indicted by Smith’s office for allegedly hiding records at his Mar-a-Lago resort. Smith separately accused Trump on August 1 of trying to stay in power following his defeat in the 2020 election.
Bratt, 63, also met with Saba in November 2021 at the White House, when Trump was in talks with the National Archives about returning presidential records from his Palm Beach estate.
Bratt held a third meeting at the White House in September 2021 with Katherine Reily, an adviser to the White House chief of staff’s office.
Bratt has served as the head of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence and export control division in the national security division since October 2018 and visited Mar-a-Lago in June 2022 to inspect storage facilities at the property.
Stanley Woodward, a lawyer for Trump’s valet and a co-defendant in the Walt Nauta documents case, accused Bratt in June of trying to coerce his client’s cooperation by floating Woodward’s application to become a federal judge.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
