Jim Jordan probing ‘abusive tactics’ by Trump special counsel

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has launched an investigation into allegations that a member of special counsel Jack Smith’s team “improperly pressured” a lawyer representing a defendant indicted by a federal grand jury in an attempt to get his client to cooperate with the government. 

Jordan (R-Ohio), in a letter sent to Smith on Thursday, demanded documents related to “abusive tactics” allegedly used by prosecutor Jay Bratt against lawyer Stanley Woodward, who is representing former President Donald Trump’s co-defendant Walt Nauta in the DOJ’s classified documents case. 

“Last year, Jay Bratt — one of your senior prosecutors and top aides — allegedly improperly pressured Stanley Woodward, a lawyer representing a defendant indicted by you, by implying that the Administration would look more favorably on Mr. Woodward’s candidacy for a judgeship if Mr. Woodward’s client cooperated with the Office of the Special Counsel,” Jordan writes. 

“This attempt to inappropriately 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,” he added. 

Woodward first made the allegation in June, in a letter filed under seal with federal judge James Boasberg, before Trump and Nauta were indicted in Smith’s classified documents probe, according to the Guardian. 

Woodward reportedly claims in the letter that in November 2022 he was summoned to a meeting at DOJ headquarters where Bratt told him that he did not think he was a “Trump guy” and that “he would do the right thing,” before mentioning his knowledge of Woodward’s pending application for a judgeship at the superior court in Washington, D.C.

“[Bratt] apparently, along with five other people in his presence from DOJ, extorted a very well-respected, very intelligent lawyer from Washington, DC, saying essentially, ‘If you want this judgeship that’s on Joe Biden’s desk, you have to flip your guy to cooperate against the President of the United States,’” former Trump lawyer James Trusty also charged in a June interview with CNN. 

Jordan also cites an Aug. 2 motion in Nauta’s case where Bratt raised possible conflicts of interests presented by Woodward’s representation of two other witnesses the special counsel’s office sought cooperation from. 

Woodward blasted Bratt’s motion as “an attempt to diminish the Court’s authority over the proceedings in this case and to undermine attorney-client relationships without any basis specific to the facts of such representation,” in a court filing responding to the motion.    

“Bratt’s attempt to bully Mr. Nauta in cooperating, first by extorting his attorney and then by alleging a conflict of interest that precludes his attorney from the case, seriously calls into question your team and your ability to remain impartial and uphold the Department’s mission,” Jordan argues.

Jordan’s investigation comes one day after a court filing by Woodward revealed that his former client in the classified documents indictment – identified by several media outlets as Mar-a-Lago IT director Yuscil Taveras – struck a cooperation agreement with Smith’s team after switching lawyers and recanting previous “false testimony.”

Taveras flipped after prosecutors raised concerns about Woodward’s possible conflicts of interests in the case related to his representation of Nauta as well. 

Jordan is seeking documents by Sept. 21 related to Woodward’s discussion with prosecutors over his representation of Nauta and communications among DOJ officials related to the attorney’s past and current clients involved in the special counsel’s investigation.