Trump Attorneys Seek Meeting with AG Garland Amid Special Counsel Investigations
Washington — Donald Trump, the former president, shared a letter his lawyers reportedly sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland late on Tuesday asking for a meeting to discuss the ongoing special counsel investigations into the former president’s actions.
Despite providing few details, attorneys John Rowley and James Trusty claimed in a letter to the nation’s top law enforcement official that their client is being treated “unfairly.” They asked to meet with him to “discuss the ongoing injustice that your Special Counsel and his prosecutors are perpetrating.”
With the 2020 presidential race and Trump’s handling of secret documents, Garland named Jack Smith as special counsel in November to supervise both studies after he leaves office under investigation.
“No President of the United States has ever, in the history of our country, been baselessly investigated in such an outrageous and unlawful fashion,” On Tuesday, Trump’s lawyers published an opinion piece that echoed the president’s attacks on the special counsel.
No one from the Justice Department or Smith’s camp has commented on the letter.
While it’s not uncommon for defense attorneys to request meetings with Justice Department officials as charge decisions near, Trump’s lawyers reaching out to Garland himself is rare, especially in an inquiry led by an independent prosecutor.
When appointing Smith, the Attorney General said, “As special counsel, [Smith] will exercise independent prosecutorial judgment to decide whether charges should be brought.”
CBS News shared a tweet about the same incident on its Twitter handle:
Trump’s attorneys requested a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland to discuss the ongoing special counsel investigations into the former president’s conduct. https://t.co/Hi1S9HgHDd
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 24, 2023
The Attorney General may become involved if a special counsel investigation deviates from Justice Department procedures or the law. Special Counsel John Durham, appointed by Trump, was entrusted with investigating the FBI’s 2016 Russia probe, and his findings were disclosed last week by Garland when Durham penned Garland.
Granted the investigation team ” freedom of operation. “
Former Attorney General spokesperson Anthony Coley responded to Trump’s letter to Garland on Tuesday, casting doubt on the possibility of a meeting between the two men.
“Jack Smith is running this investigation, not Garland,” Tweets Anthony Coley. put out a tweet saying, “Smith is not subject to the day to day oversight of any person at DOJ, including Garland… If Smith takes an investigative or prosecutorial step outside DOJ norms, Garland can step in at that point and overturn it. But then, Congress would be notified. And we’d all know about it.”
In recent weeks, grand jury activity and demands witness interviews have slowed, suggesting that the federal probe into Trump’s handling of secret records and obstruction of the investigation may be winding down.
Multiple sources say that investigators have spoken with current and former workers at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and are particularly interested in the ex-president’s response to a federal subpoena issued to him last year demanding that he turn over all documents bearing classified markings.
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After the National Archives collected 15 boxes of Trump administration materials last year, some of which were marked “classified,” the Justice Department began investigating their possible improper disposal.
The FBI conducted a court-authorized search at Mar-a-Lago in August and seized 103 papers tagged as classified, following months of bickering between the Trump legal team and Justice Department investigators.
When appointing Smith, the Attorney General stated that the special counsel’s remit included determining whether there was any obstruction of justice regarding the inquiry into the document retention.
CBS News reported last year that federal investigators had questioned a Trump staffer who said he had relocated boxes of records at the former president’s request. Concerned that the investigation was being impeded, investigators requested footage from Mar-a-Lago’s security cameras.
On Tuesday, former Trump attorney Timothy Parlatore, who recently left the legal team due to a disagreement with a top Trump aide, praised the letter as a “smart move.”
“The facts and the law do not support charges. However, given the level of prosecutorial misconduct demonstrated thus far, they cannot trust Smith’s team to be honest or forthcoming with Merrick Garland, and understandably want an opportunity to be heard,” he explained in an interview with CBS News.
In a letter to Congress, Parlatore urged the Justice Department to “stand down” and requested more legislative oversight of handling sensitive documents before he resigned.