Smith special counsel investigation

On July 15, 2024, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the classified documents prosecution against Donald Trump, siding with the former president's argument that special counsel Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed.

[27][28] 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.

[45][46] 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.

[58] 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.

[59][60] 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.

[61][62] On April 13, former acting director of national intelligence Richard Grenell testified before a Smith grand jury regarding Trump's retention of classified materials.

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.

"[90] On June 23, in the documents case, the special counsel filed a motion requesting the trial date be moved from August to December to allow defense attorneys more time to obtain security clearances.

[95][96] A key piece of evidence was a July 2021 audio recording, six months after Trump left the White House, in which he said he had a classified document about a potential military attack on Iran.

[102] Within days of his appointment, Smith began issuing grand jury subpoenas to local officials in Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin, three key battleground states in the 2020 election, demanding they provide all communications they had with Trump, his campaign, and aides and associates.

[121] CNN reported in December 2022 that Smith began investigating Trump's state of mind and what he knew about efforts by many to overturn the 2020 presidential election he had lost.

[39] On December 11, 2022, former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara noted that Smith had been hiring people who had "left their former positions, both in government and private practice", suggesting a major legal action in the works.

Though Twitter complied with the warrant and order on February 9, producing 32 direct messages along with other material,[124] Howell fined the company $350,000 for having missed the deadline for compliance.

[131][132][133] The Post reported in April that the Trump campaign had hired a second firm, Simpatico Software Systems, days after the election to examine fraud allegations.

[141] Grossberg had previously released recordings in which Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, speaking off-air with Fox host Maria Bartiromo, contradicted what they had said on-air about the election.

[148][149] The grand jury investigating the attack on the Capitol heard testimony from: Axios reported on July 5 that Smith had recently subpoenaed the Arizona secretary of state's office.

[157] Rusty Bowers, the Republican former Arizona speaker of the house, said on CNN that day he had been interviewed by the FBI a few months earlier but declined to discuss any subpoena.

[160] CNN reported on July 6 that investigators had recently renewed interest in a December 18, 2020 Oval Office strategy meeting among Trump, Michael Flynn, Giuliani, Meadows, Powell, White House counsel Pat Cipollone, and others.

[168] On July 18, CNN reported that former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, whom Trump had pressured to overturn the 2020 election, had been contacted by the special counsel's office.

On August 7, federal prosecutors interviewed former New York City police commissioner Bernie Kerik,[176] and the Washington Post reported that more subpoenas had been issued "in recent days...about the elector scheme in multiple states".

[10] CNN reported on September 5 that Sidney Powell's non-profit, Defending the Republic, had hired forensics firms that accessed voting equipment in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona, and that Smith was investigating how funds were raised for this.

[26] The New York Times reported on September 8 that in October 2022 investigators met with Enrique Tarrio in Miami to tell him they believed he had communicated with Trump through at least three intermediaries prior to January 6.

Tarrio said he told them they were wrong and declined to name to the Times any of the individuals investigators had mentioned, though he specifically said the longtime Trump political adviser Roger Stone was not among them.

[180] ABC News reported on October 24 that the special counsel had granted Mark Meadows immunity to testify before the grand jury under oath, one of at least three meetings with prosecutors in 2023.

The Guardian later reported prosecutors had sought the Meadows testimony by subpoena in March, but Trump tried and failed to block it based in part on executive privilege grounds.

After a protracted legal battle, on December 19, 2023 DC Circuit Court of Appeals chief judge Jeb Boasberg ruled that 396 messages on the phone were protected, while investigators could examine 1,659 others.

[195][196][197][198][199] The new indictment alleged that – despite Trump's denial one month earlier – he had shown a top secret war plan document related to Iran to individuals lacking security clearances at his Bedminster home in 2021.

[208] Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan announced on September 7, 2023, that he was opening an investigation into the special counsel's office related to allegations of prosecutorial abuse.

Jordan alleged that Jay Bratt, one of Smith's senior prosecutors, "improperly pressured" Stan Woodward "by implying that the Administration would look more favorably" on his candidacy for a judgeship if his client, Walt Nauta, chose to cooperate with special counsel investigators.

[212] On November 8, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton made a Freedom of Information Act Request to the Department of Justice asking for records of the special counsel investigation.