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FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday demanding information about the office of special counsel Jack Smith, which revealed that one of the prosecutors on his team was investigating Trump over his alleged mishandling of the classified documents previously contributed to President Biden’s 2020 campaign and faced allegations of misconduct in 2009.
Trump is in Miami, where he will appear in federal court at 3 p.m. ET after facing 37 charges stemming from Smith’s investigation, including willful withholding of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false explanations.
Gaetz is demanding that the names of all the people working on the case in Smith’s office be made public.
The congressman claimed in his letter that Smith’s past work is “both highly erratic and of extraordinary public interest,” specifically “how his office is structured,” and gives Garland until July 7 to “complete all staff rosters, phone lists or similar documents, held or under the supervision of the Department of Justice, depicting all employees hired by or seconded to the office of Special Counsel Jack Smith.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., left, and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, right. (Fox news)
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Gaetz said it is “beyond discussion” that such information should be available to the public, and that “this simple personnel list cannot be withheld from Congress or the public on the basis of weakened and utterly fabulous privacy concerns.”
Gaetz pointed out that one of Smith’s deputies, Karen Gilbert, resigned as head of the narcotics division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida in 2009 over alleged misconduct, prompting an apology at the time. of the DOJ.
U.S. Republican Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida speaks at a 2024 campaign rally for former U.S. President Donald Trump in Waco, Texas, March 25, 2023. (SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)
Federal Election Commission reports also show that Gilbert donated more than $2,000 to the former campaigns of President Biden and former President Barack Obama.
In his letter, Gaetz threatened congressional action to dismantle Smith’s office.
“While there are numerous valid legislative purposes for this request, it should be clear that doing due diligence in vetting an office that apparently has not done a vetting of its own staff, or worse, could be affirmative to staff with sanctioned attorneys and partisan axe men (and women), is a very appropriate goal and one small reason why I’m asking for this information,” Gaetz wrote.
“The 118th Congress has procedural tools to allow targeted withdrawal of funds from components or sub-components of agencies not operating in the public interest,” he added.
Gaetz’s letter came on the same day Trump was due to face charges in Miami.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, announced on Monday that she will introduce a measure to halt funding for Smith’s office and his investigation into Trump
“Today I would like to announce that I am writing a letter of credit to defund Jack Smith, the special counsel, his office and the investigation,” Greene said on the House Floor Monday. “This is a weaponized attempt by the government to bring down the United States’ greatest political enemy and leading presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump.”
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, at a House Select Subcommittee hearing on the coronavirus pandemic in Washington, DC, U.S., on Tuesday, April 18, 2023. (Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Gaetz previously expressed support for Greene’s proposal.
“This is an article I bow to! I’m so for it,” he wrote on Twitter.
Judicial Watch announced last week that it has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the DOJ to obtain documents containing the names of staffers working on Trump’s case. The DOJ previously declined to disclose the names, claiming it would constitute “a manifestly unwarranted invasion of privacy.” according to Judicial Watch.
The Trump campaign has pointed to past reports of Smith and his staffers having so far been revealed to be working on the case in an attempt to damage their credibility.
The Republican presidential nominee, former US President Donald Trump, arrives at Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida on June 12, 2023. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
On Friday, the campaign released a Nov. 22, 2022 report from the Washington Examiner that said Smith, while leading the Justice Department’s public integrity unit, played an “instrumental” role in the Lois Lerner IRS scandal targeting conservative nun profit organizations.
Meanwhile, Jay Bratt, who is reportedly working in Smith’s office on the Trump case, was recently charged with wrongdoing by an attorney representing one of Trump’s personal aides, Walt Nauta, who was also charged in the classified documents case.
Meanwhile, Gilbert, another local prosecutor who worked on Smith’s team, voluntarily stepped down from her position at the U.S. law firm in 2009 to avoid hefty penalties for allegedly tapping taped phone conversations between witnesses and the defense’s attorney. defense in a narcotics case.
Members of the media outside an evacuated area at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. United States Courthouse in Miami, Florida, USA, on Tuesday, June 13, 2023. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Protesters gather outside Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr.’s U.S. courthouse. ahead of former President Donald Trump’s arraignment in Miami, Florida on Tuesday, June 13, 2023. (Mega for Fox News Digital)
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“It comes as no surprise that the false charges against President Trump come from far-left prosecutors Jack Smith and Karen Gilbert,” Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump super PAC Make America Great Again Inc., told Fox News Digital. Smith has a long history of trying to use the courts to attack conservatives and Gilbert has a track record of unethical misconduct. Every American deserves to know who else works on their team as they meddle in the 2024 elections.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida declined to comment on Smith’s statement last week, pointing Fox News Digital to his specific line: “The prosecutors in my office are among the most talented and experienced in the Justice Department. They have investigated this case to the highest ethical standards. And they will continue to do so as this case progresses.”
Jessica Chasmar is a digital writer on the Fox News and Fox Business political team. Story tips can be sent to [email protected].
