Smith Special Counsel Investigation

An ongoing special counsel investigation was opened by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on November 18, 2022, to continue two investigations initiated by the Justice Department (DOJ) regarding former U.S. President Donald Trump. Garland appointed Jack Smith, a longtime federal prosecutor, to lead the independent investigations. Smith was tasked with investigating Trump's role in the January 6 United States Capitol attack and Trump's mishandling of government records, including classified documents.

Smith moved quickly to advance his investigations, assembling a team of at least twenty DOJ prosecutors, and called witnesses for grand jury testimony, issued subpoenas to election officials in multiple states and asked a federal judge to hold Trump in contempt for refusing to comply with a subpoena.

On June 8, 2023, a grand jury in the Southern Florida U.S. District Court indicted Trump on 37 felony counts, including charges of willful retention of national security material, obstruction of justice and conspiracy, relating to his removal and retention of presidential materials from the White House after his presidency ended. Thirty-one of the counts fell under the Espionage Act. Trump pleaded not guilty. The judge set trial for May 20, 2024.

On August 1, 2023, a grand jury for the District of Columbia U.S. District Court issued a four-count indictment of Trump for conspiracy to defraud the United States under Title 18 of the United States Code, obstructing an official proceeding and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding under the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, and conspiracy against rights under the Enforcement Act of 1870 for his conduct following the 2020 presidential election through the January 6 Capitol attack. Trump pleaded not guilty. The judge set trial for March 4, 2024.

Origin

On U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland's confirmation as attorney general, the DOJ opened multiple investigations into events during the closing weeks of the Trump presidency.

One investigation involved the people and events surrounding the January 6 attack on the Capitol. In early 2022, the public became aware that the Justice Department was investigating the Trump fake electors plot. In September 2022, subpoenas were issued, focusing on fundraising in the lead-up to the attack on the Capitol.

The other investigation related to Trump's handling of government documents. In May 2021, NARA began negotiating the return of presidential records, and in January 2022, DOJ became involved. The public was unaware of this investigation until the August 2022 execution of a search warrant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home by the FBI.

In November 2022, Smith was appointed to assume the investigations. A report published in July 2023 said he had spent $5.4 million to date on the investigations. The grand jury is due to expire on September 15, 2023, but can be extended.

Investigation of mishandling of documents

Developments

2022

= December

=
Smith asked Beryl Howell, chief judge of the DC District Court, to hold Trump in contempt for failure to fully comply with an August 2022 DOJ subpoena, as prosecutors suspected Trump may have withheld some documents subject to the subpoena; Howell declined to hold Trump in contempt, asking both parties to continue working toward a resolution.

On December 12, 2022, Jennifer Rodgers, a legal analyst for CNN, noted that DOJ (which had not yet charged Trump with a crime) would find it difficult to finish any hypothetical case before the 2024 presidential election. She said DOJ might prioritize charging Trump in the documents case given that a conviction might be reached more quickly than in the January 6 case.

Contractors hired by Trump in late 2022 found additional documents marked classified, and Trump attorneys gave them to the special counsel in December 2022.

2023

= January

=

* Smith hired Raymond Hulser, former chief of public integrity at DOJ, and David Harbach, who'd previously led cases against a U.S. senator and a governor.
* A laptop and thumb drive belonging to a former Oval Office aide, Chamberlain Harris, were handed over. Harris had scanned some documents, consisting of Trump's travel schedules, onto her two devices, evidently unaware they were classified.
* The special counsel subpoenaed an empty manila folder marked "Classified Evening Briefing" that had been found by the contractors in Trump's Mar-a-Lago bedroom. The folder had been reported to the special counsel but wasn't handed over until it was subpoenaed. One of Trump's lawyers claimed in February that Trump had been using the empty folder to shield an annoying light at his bedside.
* Trump attorneys Evan Corcoran and Christina Bobb testified before a grand jury. Corcoran had reportedly drafted a June 2022 letter, signed by Bobb, attesting that, in response to a subpoena, a diligent search was conducted and no classified documents remained at Mar-a-Lago; however, thousands of documents, over a hundred of which had classified markings, were subsequently found in the August 2022 FBI search.
* Trump attorney Alina Habba also appeared before a grand jury. Habba did not represent Trump regarding the documents matter, but she had spoken about it on television.

On January 12, CNN reported that the investigators sought to learn who was paying the legal bills of subpoena recipients.

On January 26, Senate Intelligence Committee chair Mark Warner said the committee wanted to see the classified documents immediately (the ones found in Trump's and Biden's possession) and did not want to "wait until a special prosecutor blesses the intelligence committee's oversight".

On January 30, the two people who had been hired to search four locations in October 2022 for classified documents —Trump's Bedminster golf club, Trump Tower in New York, an office location in Florida and a storage unit in Florida — testified before a federal grand jury.

= February

=
In early February, the government offered to brief certain members of Congress—the leaders of the House and Senate, and the leaders of the intelligence committees—on the status of the classified documents investigation. It was also reported that more documents with classified markings had been found during a search of Mar-a-Lago "weeks" earlier, in the presence of Trump's legal team.

On February 16, former Trump national security advisor Robert O'Brien appeared before a grand jury. After being subpoenaed in both the documents investigation and the election investigation, he had tried to assert executive privilege to withhold some information. It was not immediately known before which grand jury he testified.

In February, Smith asked federal judge Beryl Howell in a sealed motion for approval to invoke the crime-fraud exception to pierce attorney-client privilege and compel Corcoran to produce documents and answer certain questions before the grand jury. The special counsel argued that Trump may have acted criminally by intentionally misleading his attorneys about his retention of classified materials. On March 17, Judge Howell ruled that DOJ had justified the crime-fraud exception, and she ordered Corcoran to testify again. Trump attorneys sought to block Corcoran's further testimony, but the DC Circuit Court of Appeals denied their appeal, and Corcoran testified on March 24. Subsequently, he recused himself—at least temporarily—from the Mar-a-Lago case, though he continued to represent Trump in the January 6 case. Under the witness advocate rule, lawyers who may be called as key witnesses are generally not supposed to represent clients at trial.

= March

=
CNN reported on March 16 that the special counsel had subpoenaed at least two dozen people at Mar-a-Lago, from resort staff to members of Trump's inner circle.

In mid-March, Trump aide Margo Martin appeared before the grand jury. She was asked about a supposed classified document about a potential military attack on Iran, as investigators had obtained an audio recording of Trump saying he possessed it. Subpoenas were subsequently issued to Trump and to another person who attended the recorded meeting. The subpoenas sought the supposed Iran document and all materials related to it, including any materials related to Milley, maps or invasion plans. Trump's legal team produced some subpoenaed materials but were unable to find the purported Iran document.

= April

=
''The Washington Post'' reported on April 2 that investigators had obtained emails and texts of Molly Michael, a Trump White House and Mar-a-Lago aide, that provided a detailed account of movements at the resort during critical times. Investigators had come to suspect Trump had gone through boxes of documents after being subpoenaed, apparently to identify documents he sought to withhold. The ''Post'' also reported investigators were asking witnesses if Trump had shown any classified materials, including maps, to political donors.

ABC News reported on April 3 that multiple members of Trump's current and former Secret Service details had been subpoenaed for testimony in the documents case.

On April 13, former acting director of national intelligence Richard Grenell testified before a Smith grand jury regarding Trump's retention of classified materials. As Trump's acting DNI, Grenell declassified documents that Trump believed would delegitimize the Russia investigation. He remained in Trump's post-presidency circle of associates and had publicly defended Trump's documents retention.

On April 26, four Trump attorneys wrote Republican House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Turner that the Justice Department "should be ordered to stand down" from its classified documents investigation, and legislation enacted to transfer the inquiry to the US intelligence community, asserting it was a civil case rather than a criminal case.

= May

=
CNN reported on May 3 that in recent weeks new subpoenas had been issued to top Trump Organization employees, regarding the handling of Mar-a-Lago security footage after it had been subpoenaed in summer 2022, and conversations employees had about the footage. Matthew Calamari Sr. and his son Matthew Calamari Jr. were among several witnesses who testified before the grand jury investigating the mishandling of documents on May 4. Calamari Sr. is the longtime chief operating officer of the Trump Organization, primarily overseeing security operations for the company, while his son is a director of security. The footage reportedly captured Trump valet Walt Nauta and another Mar-a-Lago employee moving boxes out of a storage room, which Nauta told the FBI was at Trump's direction. Investigators had previously asked about a text message from Nauta to Calamari Sr. and subsequent conversations about the surveillance footage.

''The New York Times'' reported on May 4 that the special counsel had gained the cooperation of an inside witness to help investigators determine how the materials were handled. Investigators came to believe Nauta had not given a full and accurate account of his activities, and indicated he might be charged, whereupon his attorneys ceased cooperating. Investigators asked witnesses about gaps in the surveillance footage, and had subpoenaed the vendor that provides the surveillance equipment for the Trump Organization. A subpoena had also been issued for records relating to Trump's dealings with LIV Golf, a Saudi-backed professional golf venture. The ''Times'' reported investigators were seeking to determine whether Trump paid for attorneys for witnesses based on their degree of loyalty to him.

In a May 16 letter to Trump, acting national archivist Debra Steidel Wall said NARA had sixteen presidential records showing Trump and his top advisors had been informed of "whether, why, and how you should declassify certain classified records." Wall wrote that Trump had tried to prevent the special counsel from accessing the sixteen records by asserting a claim of "constitutionally based privilege," which she rejected, advising Trump the records would be provided to investigators on May 24 unless a court intervened.

On May 17, Timothy Parlatore announced he was quitting Trump's legal team. He contended Boris Epshteyn hindered his access to Trump such that Parlatore could not provide adequate defense. Several other Trump attorneys had attempted to intervene with Trump to advise him Epshteyn was giving him rosy legal assessments in the face of dire circumstances. Parlatore also claimed Epshteyn tried to prevent the legal team from conducting searches for documents at Trump's other properties after the Mar-a-Lago search by the FBI. A Trump spokesperson said Parlatore's "statements regarding current members of the legal team are unfounded and categorically false." Epshteyn remained a top Trump advisor and coordinator of his myriad legal matters since Epshteyn's alleged involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. He had been interviewed by Smith investigators in April 2023.

On May 19, prosecutors formally notified Trump's legal team that the former president was a target of the investigation in the documents case. Justice Department policy allows sending a target letter to afford a target an opportunity to testify to a grand jury before an indictment might be handed down.

''The Guardian'' reported on May 22 that the Smith grand jury had about 50 pages of Corcoran's contemporaneous notes, following a DOJ subpoena to Trump for classified documents, indicating that Corcoran had explained to Trump that he could not retain these documents. The notes also contained details of how the documents had been stored and moved.

''The New York Times'' reported on May 22 that the special counsel had subpoenaed the Trump Organization for records related to any business dealings it might have had with seven countries since the beginning of the Trump presidency. Investigators were seeking to determine if Trump's removal of presidential documents was related to any foreign business deals. The countries were China, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

''The Wall Street Journal'' reported on May 23 that the special counsel was wrapping up the documents investigation, suggesting an indictment might be near. Hours later, Trump attorneys wrote Merrick Garland requesting a meeting at his earliest convenience to "discuss the ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his prosecutors."

On May 25, ''The Washington Post'' reported that before being subpoenaed Trump and his aides conducted a "dress rehearsal" for moving sensitive documents. Two Trump employees moved boxes into a storage room the day before the FBI executed the search warrant. Investigators also developed evidence Trump had kept classified documents in his office such that they were visible, and sometimes showed them to others.

The ''New York Times'' reported on May 31 that former Trump White House staffers had been subpoenaed for information about the firing of Christopher Krebs. Krebs had been the Trump administration's top cybersecurity official, and he had concluded the 2020 election was secure. He was fired on November 17, 2020, two weeks after the election.

=June

=
Three Trump attorneys met with Smith and others at the Justice Department in Washington on June 5 to argue that Trump should not be indicted in the documents case. Garland and his deputy Lisa Monaco were not present. NBC News previously reported that the grand jury examining the documents matter was expected to reconvene that week. A previously unreported Miami, Florida grand jury which had begun hearing evidence in May was also set to hear testimony in the documents case that week. The purpose of that grand jury was not immediately clear, though that federal judicial district encompasses Mar-a-Lago. Former Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich testified before that grand jury on June 7.

''The New York Times'' reported on June 6 that Mark Meadows, a figure in both distinct lines of the special counsel investigation, had at some time testified before a grand jury, but it was not clear if he was questioned about one or both of the matters Smith was investigating. Meadows' attorney George Terwilliger

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases