Trump demands meeting with AG Merrick Garland ‘as special counsel prepares to charge him’

Donald Trump and his lawyers demanded a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland as a Justice Department investigation into the former president’s handling of classified documents shows signs of charges against him.

Trump posted the letter on his own Truth Social platform Tuesday, in which his lawyers claimed he is being “treated unfairly.”

Attorneys John Rowley and James Trusty called for the meeting to discuss “the ongoing injustices committed by your special counsel and his accusers.”

It wasn’t immediately clear what the specific reason for the letter was, but it comes just after the This was reported by the Wall Street Journal that the years of document research seem to be coming to an end, with a possible indictment on the horizon.

Trump has not yet been charged in connection with the handling of classified documents and the raid on his Florida Mar-a-Lago home, although he faces an ongoing case involving hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

It wasn’t immediately clear what the specific motivation for the letter was, but it comes just after the Wall Street Journal reported that years of document research appear to be drawing to a close.

The language of the letter echoed some of Trump’s own complaints in recent months about the investigations led by special counsel Jack Smith

“Unlike President Biden, his son Hunter and the Biden family, President Trump is being treated unfairly,” the lawyers wrote in the letter.

“We request that you meet as soon as possible to discuss the ongoing injustices committed by your special counsel and his accusers.”

The language of the letter echoed some of Trump’s own complaints in recent months about the investigations led by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

Smith has finished collecting evidence about how confidential presidential files ended up at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week.

The newspaper, citing people familiar with the case, said Trump allies expect charges to be filed.

Smith Finished Gathering Evidence About How Confidential Presidential Files Ended Up At Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Resort

The investigation seeks to determine whether Trump illegally kept secret documents he took from the White House to his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago.

It’s not uncommon for defense attorneys to seek meetings with senior Justice Department officials to argue against potential charges brought by their clients, though it’s uncommon for the attorney general to be present at such meetings, the Associated Press reported.

Special counsel enjoys broad autonomy within the Justice Department, and officials have repeatedly indicated that the recommendation on whether to prosecute charges against Trump or anyone else in the investigation belongs to Smith and his team.

The investigation seeks to determine whether Trump illegally kept secret documents he took from the White House to his Florida home after the end of his term in office and whether he tried to counter government efforts to recover the documents. to hinder.

Smith’s work examines whether someone was trying to thwart the criminal investigation, or whether Trump was illegally holding documents he should have turned over to authorities.

Trump insists he did nothing wrong, saying his power as president meant documents were automatically released if he chose to remove them from his official offices.

But it’s unclear whether the top lawyer has collected enough evidence for Garland to charge the ex-supreme commander with a crime.

Former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr previously said he believes the classified document investigation poses the biggest legal threat to the ex-president of all three investigations he faces.

Smith is also looking into Trump and his allies’ bid to overturn the 2020 presidential election result.

The FBI seized 11,000 documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida during a court-approved search on Aug. 8, including about 100 marked as classified

The FBI seized 11,000 documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida during a court-approved search on Aug. 8, including about 100 marked classified.

Some were classified as top secret, the highest level of classified information.

The department began its investigation after the National Archives, the US agency responsible for preserving government records, tried to persuade Trump to return missing government property and received 15 boxes of classified documents.

Trump has accused the Justice Department of participating in a partisan witch hunt and claims the documents he took were part of his personal records and were released when he left office.

Trump appeared virtually in a court in Manhattan on Tuesday for a hearing on another case. He faces more than 30 charges related to alleged hush money payments to cover up an affair with Stormy Daniels.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to those charges, saying the case is a political witch hunt.

He was reminded by a judge not to share public evidence in the case.