House GOP Threatens to Subpoena Special Counsel Jack Smith

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ) have threatened to subpoena Special Counsel Jack Smith if he does not provide documents related to his investigation of Donald Trump.

“Based on publicly available information, the Committee has significant concerns about your commitment to evenhanded justice,” they wrote in a letter to Smith. “You have a record of attempting to criminalize political discourse, as evidenced by your reported interest in how the Justice Department could prosecute conservative tax-exempt groups engaging in constitutionally protected political speech.”

The GOP representatives expressed a concern for “fairness and justice.”

“Your staff appointments for the Office of Special Counsel also lead to concern about your commitment to fairness and justice. For example, one senior attorney in your office reportedly once pushed for an investigation into a conservative figure so adamantly that Department leaders worried that the attorney ‘could expose the department to accusations that it had politicized the probe.'”

The congressmen then asked for documents related to the “investigation and prosecution of President Donald Trump,” “salaries for each Office of Special Counsel member of staff,” “travel costs incurred and trips taken” by Office of Special Counsel staff, and “the organizational structure” of the Office of Special Counsel.”

If Smith does not provide the materials requested by January 4, 2024, the “Committee may resort to compulsory process.”

In September, American Faith reported that Jordan launched an inquiry into alleged prosecutorial misconduct by Smith’s office.

A press release issued by the Committee on September 7 highlighted concerns over potential abuses by Jay Bratt, a top aide and senior prosecutor under Special Counsel Jack Smith.

“Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent a letter to Special Counsel Jack Smith after launching an inquiry into Jay Bratt, one of his senior prosecutors and top aides,” the document read.

Bratt “allegedly improperly pressured Stanley Woodward, a lawyer representing a defendant indicted by Jack Smith, by implying that the Administration would look more favorably on Mr. Woodward’s candidacy for a judgeship if his client cooperated with the Office of the Special Counsel.”

In a detailed account of the alleged events, the letter stated, “In November 2022, when your prosecutors were trying to secure the cooperation of Walt Nauta—who is alleged to have ‘move[d] boxes of documents’ at Mar-a-Lago—prosecutors, including Mr. Bratt, summoned Mr. Woodward to a meeting at the Department’s headquarters for ‘an urgent matter that they were reluctant to discuss over the phone.’”

“Mr. Bratt threatened him that Mr. Nauta should cooperate ‘because he had given potentially conflicting testimony that could result in a false statement,’” the letter added.

The document also cited Bratt’s alleged comments about Woodward not being a “Trump guy” and implying a connection between the attorney’s cooperation and his application for a judgeship on the D.C. superior court.