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Jack Smith, the special counsel tasked with investigating Donald Trump’s role in the January 6 insurrection and attempt to overturn the 2020 election, as well as the presence of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, is in the midst of at least eight secret court battles to access records or compel testimony, CNN reports.
The court battles are occurring behind-closed-doors as part of Smith’s investigation, and include his attempt to compel Evan Corcoran, a lawyer for the ex-president, to reveal more details of his conversations of Trump, arguing they may contain evidence of a crime.
The Justice Department’s long-running effort to enforce a May 2022 subpoena for all classified records in Trump’s possession. After a sealed December hearing, Howell gave Smith’s investigators an avenue to ask more questions of two people hired to search Trump’s properties in December and found more documents with classified markings. Those two people testified to the grand jury late last month. Sixteen national media outlets, including CNN, have asked Howell to make public transcripts of hearings and other records in the case.
An appeal over whether former Pence chief counsel Greg Jacob and chief of staff Marc Short should have been forced to answer questions about Trump interactions around January 6. Both went to the grand jury in DC on the same Friday last July and refused to give some answers because of Trump’s attempted claims of confidentiality around the presidency. Court orders prompted them to testify a second time, seeking out more testimony from them in October last year, CNN previously confirmed. They both appeared a second time at the grand jury. The Trump team still has filed an appeal of Howell’s decisions.
Continue reading…Portions of highly anticipated report to be made publicSign up to receive First Thing – our daily briefing by emailJack Smith, the special counsel tasked with investigating Donald Trump’s role in the January 6 insurrection and attempt to overturn the 2020 election, as well as the presence of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, is in the midst of at least eight secret court battles to access records or compel testimony, CNN reports.The court battles are occurring behind-closed-doors as part of Smith’s investigation, and include his attempt to compel Evan Corcoran, a lawyer for the ex-president, to reveal more details of his conversations of Trump, arguing they may contain evidence of a crime.The Justice Department’s long-running effort to enforce a May 2022 subpoena for all classified records in Trump’s possession. After a sealed December hearing, Howell gave Smith’s investigators an avenue to ask more questions of two people hired to search Trump’s properties in December and found more documents with classified markings. Those two people testified to the grand jury late last month. Sixteen national media outlets, including CNN, have asked Howell to make public transcripts of hearings and other records in the case.An appeal over whether former Pence chief counsel Greg Jacob and chief of staff Marc Short should have been forced to answer questions about Trump interactions around January 6. Both went to the grand jury in DC on the same Friday last July and refused to give some answers because of Trump’s attempted claims of confidentiality around the presidency. Court orders prompted them to testify a second time, seeking out more testimony from them in October last year, CNN previously confirmed. They both appeared a second time at the grand jury. The Trump team still has filed an appeal of Howell’s decisions. Continue reading…