Ashley Oliver | Washington Examiner
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) asked on Tuesday that the Department of Justice and White House chief of staff provide records of interactions between special counsel Jack Smith's office and President Joe Biden's executive office, citing concerns about Smith's "impartiality."
Jordan wrote in letters obtained by the Washington Examiner to Attorney General Merrick Garland and White House chief of staff Jeff Zients that his requests were prompted by recent news that Jay Bratt, one of Smith's top deputies, visited the White House earlier this year.
Bratt, one of the prosecutors working on the case against former President Donald Trump related to classified documents, met with a White House official on March 31, a couple of months before Trump was first indicted in the case, according to a report published by the New York Post this past weekend.
"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," Jordan wrote to both Garland and Zients.
Visitor logs show Bratt met with Caroline Saba, a deputy chief of staff in the White House counsel's office, and Danielle Ray, an FBI special agent, the New York Post reported, noting that the special counsel's office responded to the outlet that the meeting was a "case-related interview."
Asked about Jordan's inquiry, Peter Carr, a spokesman for Smith, said his office would decline to comment on case-related interviews.
Garland appointed Smith as special counsel in November 2022, tasking him with investigating Trump's handling of classified documents after he left office, as well as any unlawful efforts by Trump or others to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump was indicted in Florida on June 8 on charges of willfully retaining national defense information, conspiring to obstruct justice, and other charges related to classified documents. The former president has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and a trial in the case is set for next May.
Bratt, who works in counterintelligence in DOJ's National Security Division, has been involved with the case since at least the middle of last year.
He visited Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence, at which the FBI would later execute a search warrant, in June 2022 to obtain any classified documents, but Bratt's team was denied access to certain boxes at the time, according to the Washington Post.
Jordan noted that his committee has "previously raised concerns" about Bratt, including an allegation first published in the Guardian in June that Bratt had "improperly pressured" co-defendant and Trump aide Walt Nauta's attorney Stanley Woodward as he sought Woodward's cooperation in the case.
"These facts reinforce the serious concern that Mr. Smith is not running an impartial and unprejudiced investigation and prosecution," Jordan wrote.
The chairman asked that Garland and Zients respond by Sept. 12.
