JUST IN: House Judiciary Sends Fiery Threat To Jack Smith: ‘Preserve Your Records’
The House Judiciary Committee has sent out a letter to Special Counsel Jack Smith, ordering him to preserve his records concerning the cases he was prosecuting against President-elect Donald Trump. The committee is led by Chairman Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio.
“The Committee on the Judiciary is continuing its oversight of the Department of Justice and the Office of Special Counsel. 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,” the committee wrote, according to a report from Fox News. “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.”
Co-author of the letter, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, a Republican from Georgia, along with Jordan, warned that the Office of Special Counsel “is not immune from transparency or above accountability for its actions.”
“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 went on to say in the letter.
Jack Smith:
Preserve your records. pic.twitter.com/Toazp1EATk
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) November 8, 2024
The letter demands that Smith hand over information concerning the use of FBI personnel who were members of his team. This request was first made back in June 2023. Committee members also want any and all records of those FBI employees who “previously worked on any other matters concerning President Trump.”
Fox News continues:
They also renewed their request from August 2023, demanding records relating to Smith and prosecutor Jay Bratt visiting the White House or Executive Office of the President; a request from September 2023 for records related to lawyer Stanley Woodward—who represented Trump aide Walt Nauta; a request from December 2023 for communications between Attorney General Merrick Garland and the special counsel’s team; and more. The Justice Department is looking to wind down two federal criminal cases against President-elect Trump as he prepares to be sworn in for a second term in the White House — a decision that upholds a long-standing policy that prevents Justice Department attorneys from prosecuting a sitting president.
DOJ officials have cited a memo from the Office of Legal Counsel filed in 2000, which upholds a Watergate-era argument that asserts it is a violation of the separation of powers doctrine for the Justice Department to investigate a sitting president.
The letter also points out that these kinds of proceedings would “unduly interfere in a direct or formal sense with the conduct of the Presidency.”
“In light of the effect that an indictment would have on the operations of the executive branch, ‘an impeachment proceeding is the only appropriate way to deal with a President while in office,’” the memo finished.
The charges against the president-elect brought by Smith concerned his alleged mishandling of classified documents and alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.