House GOP responds to Trump indictment with renewed FBI scrutiny
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House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images.
The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee on Friday doubled down on its request for the Justice Department to provide documents about the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lag0 last year.
Why it matters: The request came as a judge unsealed a 37-count federal indictment of former President Trump over his alleged mishandling of classified documents at his Florida resort.
Driving the news: Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the committee's chair and one of Trump's most ardent defenders in Congress, wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland to "renew and supplement our request for documents" related to the search.
- "The indictment creates, at the minimum, a serious appearance of a double standard and a miscarriage of justice," Jordan wrote.
- The letter asks for all documents involving meetings between the FBI and DOJ before the execution of the Mar-a-Lago search warrant, documents related to the search warrant itself and communications between FBI Washington Field Office agents and the U.S. Secret Service.
- Jordan set a June 16 deadline for the documents to be turned over.
The 49-page indictment includes 37 felony counts related to Trump's handling of classified documents after leaving office.
- The "hundreds of classified documents" at his residences included information about U.S. weapons capabilities and nuclear programs, potential vulnerability to a foreign military attack and retaliatory strike plans, according to the indictment.
- The indictment also alleges Trump kept the documents in a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office, his bedroom and a storage room.
The intrigue: The Jordan letter includes excerpts from a transcribed Judiciary Committee interview with Steven D'Antuano, the assistant director of the Washington Field Office, that took place on Wednesday.
- "Mr. D’Antuono detailed how he disagreed with the Justice Department’s approach to the raid and described several abnormalities about the Department’s actions in pursuing its investigation of President Trump," Jordan wrote.
- D'Antuano said he had concerns around the DOJ not involving the Miami Field Office or the local U.S. attorney, not seeking Trump's consent before resorting to a search warrant and not waiting for Trump's lawyers to be present before executing the search.
The other side: The Democrats on the committee released their own excerpts of D'Antuano's testimony.
- The FBI official testified that some of the documents were so classified that "I don't believe I had the clearances for some of them and I didn't want to look at them."
- He also said there was a "big fear" within the DOJ about the documents "being lost, destroyed, going someplace else" ahead of the search and that Trump did not properly store them in a secure room.
What we're watching: For the moment, Jordan appears to be holding off on targeting the Justice Department at the same scale of his investigation into Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
