Senators Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley didn’t hold back in a letter fired off to Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Special Counsel Jack Smith. In the letter, they demanded that Smith preserve all records relating to the prosecution of former President Donald Trump, noting also the many times in the past that similar records have been “lost.”
Beginning the letter, they minced no words about the past failures of the DOJ in such situations, stating, “We write to request the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) ensure that all records relating to Special Counsel Smith’s investigations into former President Trump be preserved. Our request is necessary based on the Justice Department’s past failures to preserve federal records.”
Giving an example, they noted, “By way of example, on September 11, 2020, we wrote to the Justice Department about concerns that multiple employees of then-Special Counsel Mueller’s team wiped data from their government phones, including texts messages, during their investigation of alleged Russian collusion in the 2016 election. During that time, members of Special Counsel Mueller’s team admitted that they wiped data from their phones and also on multiple occasions had their data automatically wiped after putting in the wrong password too many times.”
Building on that, they noted, “Indeed, one team member, Andrew Weissmann, appeared to have deleted data on his phone more than once. On March 18, 2018, records show that Weissmann “[e]ntered [his] password too many times and wiped his phone.” On September 27, 2018, another report reads, “AAW accidently wiped cell phone – data lost.” Moreover, after Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation ended, the Justice Management Division took possession of 79 of 96 phones. Of those, it appears that only 74 phones were reviewed for official records, which means not all phones were subject to records preservation.”
Giving another example, they provided, “Many members of Special Counsel Mueller’s team apparently began deleting federal records after the DOJ Office of the Inspector General (DOJ OIG) began its inquiry into the Justice Department’s mishandling and error-prone Crossfire Hurricane investigation. The proximity in time to the DOJ OIG investigation along with the number of times and stated reasons for the deletion of the federal records calls into question whether this was a widespread intentional effort in order to prevent Congress and agency watchdogs from better understanding the Special Counsel’s decision making process as they pursued their investigation and wrote their report. In fact, under this administration’s standards, these actions could have very well been prosecuted for destruction of evidence and obstruction, but the Biden administration chose not to.”
Giving a third example, they noted, “In addition, Senator Grassley’s oversight exposed that during the FBI’s investigation of Secretary Clinton’s mishandling of highly classified information, the FBI agreed to destroy any records that were not turned over to the investigatory team and agreed to destroy laptops associated with Secretary Clinton’s staff.9As Senator Grassley said in 2016, this agreement is astonishing given the likelihood that evidence on the laptops would be of interest to congressional investigators.”
Further noting the internal bias that makes the demands necessary, they noted, “According to whistleblower disclosures, former FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) Timothy Thibault, who publicly engaged in anti-Trump political partisanship, was deeply involved in the decision to open and pursue the investigation that ultimately became one of Special Counsel Smith’s cases against former President Trump.10 On July 18, 2022, Senator Grassley wrote the Justice Department raising concerns about ASAC Thibault’s clear pattern of political partisanship and the apparent impact it had on the Justice Department and FBI’s decision to open and pursue its investigation.11 ASAC Thibault was later found to have violated the Hatch Act for his anti-Trump political partisanship.12 Due to the apparent political bias of FBI officials that were involved in the genesis of a case against former President Trump, preservation of Special Counsel Smith’s records is more important than ever. If a politically charged case is to be opened, it must be done the right way and free from political bias.”
Shortly later, they concluded by saying, “Accordingly, considering the Justice Department’s past destruction of federal records relevant to congressional oversight and political bias infecting its decision-making process, we request that you preserve all records related to the Justice Department’s criminal investigations of former President Trump by Special Counsel Smith. The improper conduct of the past cannot be repeated in this matter, therefore, all records must be preserved so that Congress can perform an objective and independent review.”
