No one has to convince Republican voters that the criminal indictments of former President Donald Trump are just politics on a different plane.
Last week, for example, a CBS News poll revealed that 77% of GOP respondents said the indictment for Trump in attempting to overturn the Georgia 2020 election was politically motivated.
Now, that mode of thinking may just get new fuel.
The New York Post recently reported that White House aides under President Joe Biden met with Special Counsel Jack Smith just weeks before he filed charges against Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents.
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One of Smith’s prosecutors, Jay Bratt, visited Caroline Saba, deputy chief of staff for the White House counsel’s office, on March 31. Danielle Ray, an FBI agent in the Washington field office, joined them.
Roughly two months later, Smith charged Trump.
On Truth Social, his own social media platform, Trump said, “It has just been reported that aides to TRUMP prosecutor, Deranged Jack Smith, met with high officials at the White House just prior to these political SleazeBags Indicating me OVER NOTHING. If this is so, which it is, that means that Biden and his Fascist Thugs knew and APPROVED of this Country dividing Form of Election Interference, despite their insisting that they ‘knew nothing.’”
“It’s all a BIG LIE, just like Russia, Russia, Russia, & not knowing about son’s business dealings. DISMISS CASE!”
As the Post noted, news of the meeting raises “serious concerns about coordinated legal efforts aimed at President Biden’s likely opponent in 2024.”
One of those who raised such concerns was Trump ally and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who once was a top federal prosecutor in New York’s Southern District.
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“There is no legitimate purpose for a line [DOJ] guy to be meeting with the White House except if it’s coordinated by the highest levels,” Giuliani told the Post.
“What’s happening is they have trashed every ethical rule that exists and they have created a state police. It is a Biden state prosecutor and a Biden state police,” he added.
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said the March meeting was particularly troublesome and “raises obvious concerns about visits to the White House after [Bratt] began his work with the special counsel.”
“There is no reason why the Justice Department should not be able to confirm whether this meeting was related to the ongoing investigation or concerns some other matter,” Turley added.
The FBI refused to comment, while the special counsel’s office confirmed the meeting but would not discuss details.
This is not the first time Bratt has generated concerns about the ethics and tactics of Smith’s team.
Stanley Woodward, a lawyer for Trump’s associate Walter Nauta, whom Smith has also charged in the documents case, claimed in June that Bratt sought to coerce Nauta’s cooperation against Trump.
Bratt did so, according to Woodward, by saying his application to be a federal judge would be viewed more favorably by the Biden administration if Nauta cooperated with the government.
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