Attorneys for former President Donald J. Trump met on Monday on the Justice Division with officers, together with the particular counsel Jack Smith, two weeks after requesting a gathering to debate their issues about Mr. Smith’s investigations into Mr. Trump, in response to two folks acquainted with the matter.
The assembly didn’t embrace Lawyer Basic Merrick B. Garland or Lisa O. Monaco, the deputy legal professional common, and it’s unclear what exact topics have been mentioned. However the go to got here amid indications that prosecutors within the particular counsel’s workplace have been approaching the tip of their inquiry into the previous president’s dealing with of labeled paperwork. It additionally got here at a time when Mr. Trump’s advisers have concluded that there won’t be way more time to stave off prices, the folks stated.
The legal professionals — James Trusty, John Rowley and Lindsey Halligan — left the Justice Division after almost two hours. They declined to talk to reporters.
Shortly after their go to, Mr. Trump posted a message on his social media platform, Fact Social, suggesting that his authorized workforce had at the very least mentioned with him the likelihood that he could possibly be indicted.
“How can DOJ presumably cost me, who did nothing mistaken,” Mr. Trump wrote in all capital letters.
Tim Parlatore, a lawyer who resigned final month from representing Mr. Trump, stated that the previous president’s authorized workforce has harbored worries for a while about how prosecutors working for the particular counsel, Jack Smith, have performed the labeled doc inquiry.
“I’ve lengthy had issues concerning the method through which D.O.J. personnel performed this investigation,” Mr. Parlatore stated. “No matter what the proof reveals, in case your prosecution workforce has engaged in misconduct, that’s a related issue to contemplate in making any charging selections, significantly in a case with vital political magnitude.”
Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mr. Smith, declined to remark.
In a one-page letter to Mr. Garland, which Mr. Trump posted on his Fact Social account on Might 23, the legal professionals didn’t cite any particular complaints by his authorized workforce, however as a substitute broadly asserted that Mr. Trump had been handled unfairly by the Justice Division by way of the investigations led by Mr. Smith. Together with the labeled paperwork case, prosecutors beneath Mr. Smith are additionally scrutinizing efforts by Mr. Trump and his aides to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 election.
The letter to Mr. Garland was an abbreviated model of an extended one which contained a extra element account of the issues by Mr. Trump’s legal professionals, in response to two folks acquainted with the matter. These included the methods through which grand juries have been used within the particular counsel’s investigations and makes an attempt to strong-arm protection legal professionals concerned within the instances, the folks stated.
Mr. Trusty, who labored on the Justice Division for greater than 20 years, is aware of Mr. Smith effectively: The 2 labored with one another a decade in the past, when Mr. Trusty was a high-ranking prosecutor within the division’s legal division and Mr. Smith was the top of the general public integrity unit.
The Trump authorized workforce’s go to to the Justice Division got here as indicators have emerged that Mr. Smith may quickly decide about whether or not to hunt prices within the paperwork case. The standing of his different line of inquiry, into Mr. Trump’s efforts to reverse his election loss and the way they contributed to the assault on the Capitol by his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, stays much less clear.
Mr. Trump expects to face prices within the paperwork investigation, in response to individuals who have spoken to him, though that doesn’t imply that he has been assured that prices are pending.
Prosecutors stated in authorized paperwork final 12 months that they have been investigating Mr. Trump’s dealing with of labeled paperwork that he took with him when he left workplace and whether or not he obstructed the federal government’s efforts to retrieve them. He voluntarily returned two batches of paperwork final 12 months, and F.B.I. brokers retrieved extra in a search in August of Mar-a-Lago, his non-public membership and residence in Florida.
In his Fact Social submit, Mr. Trump in contrast his case with that of President Biden, who was additionally discovered to have had labeled paperwork in his possession from his time as vp and who can be beneath scrutiny by a particular counsel. Mr. Trump additionally talked about the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal electronic mail server.
The preliminary letter from his legal professionals to Mr. Garland was instantly confrontational, accusing officers on the Justice Division of displaying favoritism to Mr. Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, who’s beneath legal investigation by the division.
By sending the letter, Mr. Trump was counting on a regularly used playbook, through which he suggests a decide or a prosecutor is treating him unfairly by the act of investigating him.
Below Justice Department regulations, Mr. Garland would play solely a restricted position in whether or not Mr. Smith decides to carry prices towards Mr. Trump.
An legal professional common can overrule a particular counsel in a particular circumstance: If Mr. Garland have been to find out that the prosecutor’s motion could be “so inappropriate or unwarranted beneath established departmental practices that it shouldn’t be pursued.” Mr. Garland should additionally disclose that to Congress and clarify any such intervention when the particular counsel’s inquiry ends.
William Ok. Rashbaum contributed reporting.