In a bombshell revelation, the Biden White House counsel’s office met with a senior aide to Special Counsel Jack Smith just weeks before former President Trump was indicted for allegedly mishandling classified documents.
According to a report, White House visitor logs show that Jay Bratt, who joined Smith’s staff shortly after his appointment in November 2022, met with Caroline Saba, the deputy chief of staff for the White House counsel’s office, on March 31, 2023. Danielle Ray, an FBI agent in the Washington field office, joined the two.
Nine weeks later, Trump was indicted by Smith’s office on June 8, 2023.
In November 2021, Bratt also met with Saba at the White House. At the time of that meeting, Trump was taking part in negotiations with the National Archives, who were demanding he turn over presidential records from his Mar-A-Lago home.
Bratt joined a third meeting at the White House in 2021, however, this time with Katherine Reily— an advisor to the White House chief of staff’s office.
The meetings raise concerns that the Biden White House was involved and knew of Smith’s soon-to-be actions of filing charges against Trump.
Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani— indicted last week on charges he attempted to overturn the 2020 election— told the New York Post that there is no legitimate reason for the DOJ to meet with the White House unless the highest levels coordinate it.
“What’s happening is they have trashed every ethical rule that exists, and they have created a state police. It is a Biden state prosecutor and a Biden state police,” Giuliani said.
The White House visitor logs do not provide reasons for these meetings.
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said there is “no reason why the Justice Department should not be able to confirm whether this meeting was related to the ongoing investigation or concerns some other matter.”
In June 2022, Bratt was instructed to inspect storage facilities at Mar-a-Lago, where he came in contact with Trump. One month later, he became a leading advocate for the unexpected FBI raid of the Florida estate.