House panel wants records on Jack Smith deputy’s White House visits before Trump charges

WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee demanded Tuesday that the Biden administration explain why a prosecutor working for special counsel Jack Smith visited the West Wing before former President Donald Trump’s indictment for allegedly mishandling classified national security records.

Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote Attorney General Merrick Garland and White House chief of staff Jeff Zients requesting all relevant documents on attorney Jay Bratt’s three known meetings at the executive mansion, which were first reported Saturday by The Post.

“According to recent reporting, Jay Bratt — a Department of Justice employee and top aide to Special Counsel Jack Smith — met with White House officials multiple times, just weeks before Mr. Smith indicted former President Donald Trump,” Jordan wrote.

“This new information raises serious concerns regarding the potential for a coordinated effort between the Department and the White House to investigate and prosecute President Biden’s political opponents.”

Jordan requested “[a]ll documents and communications referring or relating to any appointment, meeting, or other visit by Mr. Bratt to the White House or the Executive Office of the President” and those “between the Executive Office of the President and the Department of Justice referring or relating to the investigation and/or prosecutions of Special Counsel Jack Smith.

The request could morph into a legally binding subpoena if records are not provided.

Jordan wrote that “this letter serves as a formal request to preserve all existing and future records and materials related to Mr. Bratt’s appointments, meetings, and visits.”

The White House and Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Bratt visited the West Wing three times since Biden took office, according to White House visitor logs — including for one meeting after he joined Smith’s team in November 2022.

Bratt met at the White House on March 31, 2023, with Caroline Saba, deputy chief of staff for the White House counsel’s office, and Danielle Ray, an FBI agent in the Washington field office, logs show.

A spokesman for Smith’s office said the visit was for a “case-related interview” and a person familiar with the meeting said it was “an interview of a career official who was also working at the White House during the Trump Administration.”

Nine weeks later, on June 8, Trump was indicted by Smith’s office for allegedly hoarding records at his Mar-a-Lago resort. Smith separately indicted Trump Aug. 1 for attempting to remain in power following his 2020 election loss.

Bratt, 63, also met with Saba in November 2021 at the White House, as Trump was in talks with the National Archives about the return of presidential records from his Palm Beach estate.

Bratt had a third meeting in the White House in September 2021 with Katherine Reily, an adviser to the White House chief of staff’s office.

Bratt has served as chief of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence and export control section in the national security division since October 2018 and visited Mar-a-Lago in June 2022 to inspect storage facilities at the property.

Stanley Woodward, a lawyer for Trump’s valet and co-defendant in the documents case Walt Nauta, accused Bratt in June of trying to coerce his client’s cooperation by floating Woodward’s past application to be a federal judge.