House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) is now accusing federal prosecutors of pressuring Trump lawyers and playing a dangerous game with special counsel Jack Smith.
Representative Jordan is once again attempting to obtain documents from the ongoing Jack Smith investigation. Now Jordan wants to investigate Jack Smith’s accusers for allegedly pressuring one of the lawyers paid by Donald Trump.
Jordan wrote in a letter to Smith:
The Committee on the Judiciary continues its oversight of the Biden Justice Department’s commitment to impartial justice and its consideration of a special counsel investigation into President Biden’s leading opponent in the upcoming presidential election. Last year, Jay Bratt – one of your senior prosecutors and top aides – allegedly inappropriately pressured Stanley Woodward, a lawyer representing a defendant you indicted, by suggesting that the government would be more favorable to the candidacy of the Mr. Woodward for a judgeship as Mr. Woodward’s client cooperated with the Office of the Special Counsel.
This attempt to improperly coerce Mr. Woodward raises serious concerns about the abusive tactics of the Office of the Special Counsel and the Department’s commitment to its mission to uphold the rule of law and ensure impartial justice. In November 2022, when your prosecutors attempted to obtain the cooperation of Walt Nauta – who reportedly had ‘relocation plans'[d] boxes of documents” at Mar-a-Lago2 – prosecutors, including Mr. Bratt, called Mr. Woodward to a meeting at the department’s headquarters because of “an urgent matter that they were reluctant to discuss over the phone.”
When Mr. Woodward arrived, Mr. Bratt threatened him that Mr. Nauta would cooperate “because he may have provided conflicting testimony that could lead to a false statement.” 4 Mr. Bratt noted that he did not consider Mr. Woodward a “Trump man” and indicated that he was confident that the application for a judgeship on the D.C. Superior Court, implying that the Biden administration will approve the application of the Mr. Woodward would view it more favorably if Mr. Nauta was a cooperating witness for the Special Counsel against President Trump. Mr. Woodward then informed the Justice Department that they would “have no further communications” unless the Justice Department charged Mr. Nauta or brokered an immunity deal. After Mr. Woodward refused to yield to Mr. Bratt’s intimidation and coercion, Mr. Bratt again attempted to obtain Mr. Nauta’s cooperation by attacking Mr. Woodward’s representation.
On August 2, 2023, Mr. Bratt filed a motion in Mr. Nauta’s case raising alleged conflicts of interest presented by Mr. Woodward’s representation of two other witnesses “who could be called to testify during a trial in the case involving classified documents in March 2023. -a-Lago.”
He further suggested that the court should “procure independent counsel” who would be present at the hearing “to advise Mr. Woodward’s clients of the potential conflicts.” Mr. Woodward’s response letter stated that Mr. Bratt’s harassment threats were merely “an attempt to diminish the Court’s authority over the proceedings in this case and to undermine attorney-client relations without any specific basis for the facts of such representation.”
Jordan has tried to interfere in the Trump investigation Fani Willis And Alvin Bragg. In both cases he was told by each of the local prosecutors to kick the rocks. However, the game Jordan is playing with the Special Counsel is especially dangerous for a group of Republicans in Congress who appear to have been active participants in Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
In his effort to help Trump, Jim Jordan is tampering with the only agency that could investigate and possibly indict members of Congress if they are proven to have played a role in aiding or abetting Trump’s coup.
Representative Jordan, like Trump, is making a big mistake by viewing serious legal matters through a political prism. If Jim Jordan tries to come after Jack Smith, he and his Republican colleagues may quickly regret it.