DoJ Keeps Rebuffing Jim Jordan on His Investigation into the Investigation of Trump
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is a staunch and outspoken ally of former President Donald Trump, and he wants to get to the bottom of special counsel Jack Smith‘s federal investigation that resulted in 37 criminal charges. But the Department of Justice is not too keen on letting Jordan butt into an active federal criminal investigation.
MSNBC’s Steve Benen reports that Jordan, who is the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is going after the Justice Department and Smith to gain more information about “the scope of the criminal investigation” into Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Giving Attorney General Merrick Garland a deadline of June 20, Jordan requested “an unredacted copy of the memorandum outlining the scope of Mr. Smith’s probes regarding President Trump and any supporting documentation related to his appointment as special counsel.”
Ahead of deadline, the Justice Department provided some information relevant to Jordan’s request, but not everything Jordan was hoping for. Politico reported:
DOJ did tell Jordan that through March “approximately 26 Special Agents … worked either full or part-time on Special Counsel Smith’s investigations in some capacity during that timeframe.” And it provided the orders appointing both Smith and Robert Hur, who is leading the investigation into President [Joe] Biden’s handling of classified documents. The orders outline the scope of both investigations and the Justice Department said, based on a search, that memoranda has not been issued since then clarifying the scope.
This response from the Justice Department did not include much of the “supporting documentation” that Jordan requested, and the DoJ explained that they would not provide “non-public information about an ongoing criminal investigation.”
What’s more, Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte added, “Protecting the confidentiality of non-public information regarding investigations and prosecutions preserves the American people’s confidence in the evenhanded administration of justice by guarding against the appearance of political pressure or other improper attempts to influence Department decisions.”
Numerous accusations have been made against the Department of Justice that it’s unfairly targeting Trump, that there’s a “two-tier justice system” in effect that is going after a political opponent of the sitting president. But the Justice Department’s “evenhanded” approach to Rep. Jordan is consistent with the intensive reporting that appeared in The Washington Post this morning, that both the DoJ and FBI actively avoided the appearance of partisanship in their investigations.
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