Former prosecutor of special lawyer Jay Bratt is expected to appear before the Judicial Committee of the House led by the Republicans next week while he is trying to find politicization in the federal criminal cases against Donald Trump, according to three familiar people.
The Bratt filing, which directed the criminal case on the alleged mismanagement of Trump of classified documents as a deputy of former special lawyer Jack Smith, was scheduled for 10 a.m. next Wednesday, according to a notice examined by The Guardian.
The appearance of Bratt is the first known example of a prosecutor of a special lawyer who was transported to the judicial committee since Trump took up his revenge and personally direct the layoffs of more than a dozen prosecutors who worked for Smith in the days following his inauguration.
It was not clear how long the deposit could last and if Bratt planned to invoke privileges to avoid testifying. A spokesman for the judicial committee did not immediately answer questions about the deposition.
Smith accused Trump in two cases: in Florida, for having poorly managed the classified documents in his Mar-A-Lago club and challenge their return; And in Washington, for trying to reverse the results of the 2020 elections.
The case of classified documents was rejected before it was tried by the American district judge Aileen Cannon, who judged that Smith had been appointed illegally because he acted with the powers of a “principal director” at the Ministry of Justice, which requires confirmation of the American Senate.
The subjects that house investigators prepared for Bratt were not clear either. But the Judicial Committee, led by Republican President Jim Jordan, has long believed that special advice affairs were the result of the political animus against Trump in the Ministry of Justice.
In repeated letters to the former special council last year, the room investigators asked for information from Smith on the contacts between the White House of Biden and the Ministry of Justice on Criminal Affairs, including when Bratt went to the White House.
They also asked for documents and communications on meetings between the FBI and those responsible for the Ministry of Justice before the decision was made to ask a magistrate judge a search warrant for Mar-A-Lago. Bratt is widely understood would have encouraged FBI leaders to obtain a mandate.
The mandate turned out to be the basis of the law on spying and obstruction of accusations of justice against Trump; The FBI recovered 101 classified documents despite the lawyers of Trump who previously stated that they had complied with an earlier assignment to return all the classified documents.
The Chamber’s Judicial Committee was also interested in a heavy and disputed meeting between the lawyer for the Trump’s legal team, Stanley Woodward and Bratt at the headquarters of the Ministry of Justice, at the height of the classified documents in November 2022.
The Guardian previously reported the complaint that Woodward had filed in the Washington Federal District Court about Reunion, where he alleged that Bratt discussed Woodward’s request to become a judge while trying to obtain the cooperation of Walt Nauta, Trump’s valet and Woodward’s client.
In the file, Woodward allegedly alleged that Bratt told him that he did not think that Woodward was a “Trump guy” and that he “would do the right thing” and that Nauta testifies against Trump in the classified documents.
The allegation was that Bratt had engaged in a possible fault by suggesting that the request for Woodward judge could be considered more favorably if he convinced his client to return. The case was referred to the office of professional responsibilities of the Ministry of Justice, but it does not seem that any action had been taken.
The extent of any potential impact on the case was not clear, because the meeting did not seem to have directly affected a testimony that Nauta gave to prosecutors, and Bratt would not have had the capacity to influence such a request, which is processed by the office of the White House lawyer.
