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The White House counsel's team held a meeting with a senior aide to Special Counsel Jack Smith mere weeks before the filing of charges against former President Donald Trump. These charges pertain to his alleged mishandling of classified documents, as reported by the New York Post.
Jay Bratt, who became part of Smith's team shortly after his appointment in November 2022, appears in the White House visitor logs for a significant interaction. On March 31, 2023, Bratt engaged in a meeting with Caroline Saba, the deputy chief of staff for the White House counsel's office. Notably, this meeting also involved Danielle Ray, an FBI agent stationed in the Washington field office.
Slightly more than nine weeks following this gathering, Special Counsel Smith proceeded to press charges against the former president, citing allegations of mishandling classified documents.
Beyond the March occurrence, Bratt had a prior encounter with Saba at the White House back in November 2021. This specific meeting coincided with the former president's negotiations with the National Archives. The Archives were actively seeking the return of presidential records from his Mar-A-Lago estate.
Bratt's White House engagements extend to a third instance in 2021. This time, his meeting partner was an advisor from the White House chief of staff's office.
Interestingly, the White House visitor logs refrain from disclosing the details of these conversations, as highlighted in a report by the New York Post.
The convening of these meetings has stirred apprehension within the realm of legal scholars. They have posed inquiries as to the rationale behind members of the Biden Administration engaging with Smith's office, particularly during the period when an inquiry into the primary political rival of the 2024 election—President Biden—was actively underway.
“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,” said former New York City mayor and longtime prosecutor Rudy Giuliani. “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 continued.
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said the March meeting “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 said.
Peter Carr, a spokesman for Smtih’s office, said Bratt was at the White House for a “case-related interview,” but did not elaborate further.
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