Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have demanded the Department of Justice stop what they call a “cover-up” of former special counsel Jack Smith’s full investigation into President Donald Trump’s retention of classified documents. New material provided to the committee, they say, shows some documents were taken to advance Trump’s business interests.
Ranking Member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi that the DOJ has produced a limited, “cherry-picked” set of materials even as Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) seeks a narrow selection to portray Smith as partisan. Raskin said some of the documents the DOJ provided contain “damning evidence” about the president’s conduct and may violate a gag order the DOJ sought from Judge Aileen Cannon. Cannon, a Trump appointee, last month permanently blocked release of Smith’s final report on the documents case.
A January 13, 2023 prosecutors’ memorandum included in materials given to the committee states the FBI determined Trump retained documents “that would be pertinent to certain business interests.” Prosecutors said that retention established a motive tied to Trump’s businesses and represented “an aggravated potential harm to national security.” One “particularly sensitive document” was accessible beforehand by an estimated six people in the U.S. government, including the president, before it was taken to his private property.
The memo also reports prosecutors identified a classified map the committee believes Trump may have shown to individuals aboard his private airplane in June 2022. Susie Wiles, then CEO of Trump’s super PAC and now White House chief of staff, was reportedly on that flight and “witnessed this event.” Raskin included a flight manifest listing 14 people aboard that flight, but the names were redacted in the documents the committee received.
Without access to the second volume of Smith’s final report, Raskin said the committee cannot confirm what the map depicts, how the classified materials relate to Trump’s business interests, or the nature of the especially sensitive document. He noted several contextual facts that raise concern about possible foreign business ties around that time:
– Around the June 2022 flight, Trump was entering partnerships with Saudi-backed LIV Golf and a Saudi state-linked real estate firm, Dar al Arkan.
– A month after the flight, in July 2022, Trump played golf at Bedminster with Yasir al-Rumayyan, governor of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, who later provided large sums to the Trump family as its finances tightened.
– Reports say Trump once referenced having classified records relating to a potential bombing of Iran and boasted of possessing Pentagon war plans “done by the military and given to me.”
Raskin warned that if the map related to U.S. military posture in the Middle East and was shown to any foreign official — Saudi or otherwise — it would constitute a grave betrayal of U.S. service members engaged in hostilities against Iran. He wrote that DOJ is in possession of evidence showing Trump endangered national security to benefit Trump family businesses and called for disclosure of what secrets were betrayed and whether any financial benefit resulted.
Raskin demanded DOJ provide who accessed the classified materials, whether any foreign actors were given access, and what the documents contain. Chioma Chukwu, executive director of watchdog American Oversight, said Judge Cannon’s sealing of Smith’s full report keeps the public from critical information about “one of the most serious national security scandals in American history,” and accused the judge of prioritizing the president’s personal interests over transparency.
After Raskin’s letter was released, the DOJ publicly accused Raskin and Smith of being “blinded by hatred of President Trump” and called the letter a political stunt echoing the “corrupt Jack Smith prosecution team.” House Judiciary Committee Democrats responded that the administration is doing “legal gymnastics” to prevent public release of Smith’s full report on how Trump allegedly stole classified documents to advance corrupt business interests, asking why the DOJ would keep the report sealed if it had confidence in Trump’s conduct.
The documents, the committee says, add to a record of the Trump family profiting during his presidency. Reports note the family has taken in large cryptocurrency gains since his return to office and that Trump’s sons invested in a drone company seeking Pentagon contracts as the administration pursues military actions in the Middle East.
Originally published by Common Dreams, this article is republished under a Creative Commons license.
