WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump criticised the office of special counsel Jack Smith after a report that Smith’s team held a pre- indictmentmeeting with the White House in early this year. However, a source confirmed the meeting took place with a White House career staffer, and was not a sit down to obtain Biden administration approval on criminal charges, as Trump claimed.
Trump posted a message on Monday, Truth Social, his social media platform, stating that it had been reported that the aides of TRUMP prosecutor Deranged Jack Smith met with high-ranking officials at White House prior to these SleazeBags accusing me over nothing.
He added: “If it’s true, then Biden and his Fascist thugs KNEW and APPROVED this Country dividing form of Election Interference despite their insistence that they’d ‘knew absolutely nothing’.”
Trump was referring a New York Post Saturday article that stated Jay Bratt was the Justice Department’s highest counterintelligence official who met Caroline Saba on March 31, when she was the deputy chief of staff in the White House Counsel’s Office. The article stated that an FBI agent was also present.
The Post linked the meeting with Trump’s indictmenton allegations that he mishandled national secrets he brought back from the White House. It wrote, “Nine-weeks later, Trump had been indictedby Smith’s office.”
Sources familiar with the meeting confirmed that Saba facilitated the meeting between Bratt, a key investigator on the case of the documents and a career White House employee who held the same position during the Trump administration.
The White House visitor logs record the meeting as taking place on March 31. However, it shows only that Saba and Bratt met.
The source said that the White House Counsel would attend a meeting like this because they represent the White House as an institution and all the employees who work under it, not just President Obama.
Peter Carr, a spokesman from the Special Counsel’s Office, told NBC News Monday that his office “refuses to comment on any interviews related to the case.”
A spokesperson from Trump’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry for comment.
Bratt, who was an original investigator in the case of the documents, remained involved even after Smith was appointed special counselin Novembre. In June, Trump had been indicted on 37 federal felony charges, including making false statements, obstructing justice, and willful retention.
Additional Charges were brought against him in a superseding Indictment, which included attempting to tamper evidence. Trump has maintained that the case is political motivated and has pleaded “not guilty”.
Saba is no longer employed at the White House.
In his post, Trump claimed that the meeting proves that the Biden administration’s claim that they weren’t involved in the Smith probes is a “big lie.” “Dismiss case!” He wrote “Dismiss case!” in capital letters.
Trial is set for May in the case of documents.
Tanya Chutkan, U.S. district court judge Tanya Chutkan set a trial date of March 4 in the case of election interference.
Michael Kosnar contributed.
