As Donald Trump nears the start of another presidential run after the midterm elections, Justice Department officials have discussed whether a Trump nomination would create the need for a special counsel to oversee two sprawling federal investigations related to the former president, sources familiar with the matter say. they know the subject. CNN.
The Justice Department is also staffing its investigations with experienced prosecutors to be ready for any decisions after the midterms, including the possible unprecedented move to indict a former president.
In the weeks leading up to the election, the Justice Department observed its traditional quiet period of not making any overt moves that might have political ramifications. But behind the scenes, investigators have stayed busy, using aggressive grand jury subpoenas and secret court battles to compel witnesses to testify in both the probe into Trump’s efforts to sway the 2020 election and the alleged mishandling of national security documents. kept at his home in Palm Beach. .
Now federal investigators are planning a flurry of post-election activity in Trump-related investigations. That includes the prospect of indictments for Trump associates — moves that could become more complicated if Trump declares a presidential run.
“They can charge almost anybody if they want to,” said a defense attorney working on matters related to Jan. 6, who added that defense attorneys “have no idea” who will ultimately be charged.
“That’s the scary thing,” said the lawyer.
Trump and his associates also face legal exposure in Georgia, where Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis is investigating Trump’s efforts to sway the 2020 election in the Peach State and expects to wrap up her investigation by the end of the year.
The indictment of an active White House candidate would certainly set off a political firestorm. And while no decision has been made on whether a special counsel might be needed in the future, Justice Department officials have discussed whether doing so could insulate the Justice Department from accusations that Joe Biden’s administration is targeting his primary political opponent, say people in the know. CNN.
Special advocates, of course, are hardly immune from political attacks. Both former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe and special counsel John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the FBI’s Russia investigation have been heavily criticized by their opponents.
The Justice Department declined to comment for this story.
The Justice Department has created a brain trust for high-level advice on the Trump investigations, according to people familiar with the moves.
Top Justice officials have turned to an old guard of former New York Southern District attorneys, bringing Kansas City-based federal prosecutor and national security expert David Raskin, as well as David Roddy, a prosecutor turned defense attorney, to the probes. specializes in gang and conspiracy cases and has worked extensively with government associates.
Roddy, whose involvement has not been previously reported, left a lucrative partnership at the prestigious defense firm Sidley Austin in recent weeks to become a senior counsel at the DOJ in the criminal division in Washington, according to his LinkedIn profile and sources familiar with the matter. movement. .
The team at the U.S. Attorney’s Office handling the day-to-day work of the Jan. 6 investigations is also growing — even as the office’s sedition cases against right-wing extremists proceed to trial.
A handful of other prosecutors have joined the Jan. 6 probe team, including a senior fraud and public corruption prosecutor who moved from a supervisor position to the team, and a prosecutor with years of criminal appeals experience who is now involved in some of the grand jury activities.
Overall, the reshuffle of prosecutors suggests a serious and avalanche of investigation into Trump and his inner circle.
The decision on whether to indict Trump or his associates will ultimately rest with Attorney General Merrick Garland, who was handpicked by President Joe Biden for the position because his tenure as a judge provided some distance from partisan politics, as Republicans of the Senate blocked his nomination for the Supreme Court in 2016. .
Several former prosecutors believe there are facts for a potentially aggravated case. But Garland will have to consider the politically risky and historic decision of how to approach the potential impeachment of a former President.
In March, Garland declined to answer a CNN question about a special counsel’s perspective on Trump-related investigations, but said the Justice Department “doesn’t shy away from cases that are controversial or sensitive or political.”
“What we will avoid and what we must avoid is any partisan element of our decision making on cases,” Garland said. “This is to ensure that the Department’s decisions are made on the merits and are made based on the facts and the law and are not based on any kind of partisan considerations.”
Garland’s tough decisions go beyond Trump. The long-running investigation into Hunter Biden, the president’s son, is nearing an end, people briefed on the matter say. Also waiting in the wings: a final decision on the investigation of Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, after prosecutors proposed not to file charges.
It likely won’t be long after the midterms before the focus turns to the 2024 presidential race. That could incentivize top Justice Department officials to make critical impeachment decisions as soon as possible, including whether to indict him of Trump or other top political activists, other sources familiar with the inner workings of the Justice Department say.
“They’re not going to indict before they’re ready to indict,” said a former Justice Department official with some insight into the thinking surrounding the investigations. “But there will be added pressure to pass review” of the cases sooner than the typical five-year window the DOJ has to bring charges.
Things could also be complicated by the situation in Georgia, where Willis is investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election there. Willis has said she aims to establish a special judicial commission to complete its investigative work by the end of the year.
Willis observed her own version of a quiet period around the midterm elections and is seeking to bring witnesses before the grand jury in the coming weeks. Sources previously told CNN that charges could be filed in December.
Key Trump allies, including South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, are among the witnesses who have tried to fight subpoenas in the state investigation into efforts to interfere in the 2020 Georgia election. .
How those disputes are resolved in Georgia — including whether courts compel testimony — could improve the Justice Department’s ability to gather information, as a Jan. 6 House Select Committee probe added to investigative guides of the Department of Justice from inside the Trump White House.
The months leading up to the election provided little respite from the political and legal activity surrounding the investigations. The US Attorney’s Office – which is still handling the bulk of the Jan. 6 investigations – has faced attrition in its ranks as prosecutors bring to trial or secure guilty pleas from more than 800 rioters who were at the Capitol. and still looking to charge hundreds more.
Trump also thwarted the Justice Department’s efforts to keep things quiet in the weeks leading up to the election, leading to a steady barrage of headlines related to the investigation.
Trump’s legal team successfully launched a complex court-directed process to sift through thousands of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago to determine whether they are privileged and off limits to investigators. But the Justice Department and the intelligence community have had access for weeks to about 100 classified records Trump kept in Florida.
The outcome of the intelligence review of those documents could determine whether criminal charges are filed, according to a source familiar with the Justice Department’s approach.
But in both investigations, the underseal court activity never abated, with the Justice Department trying to compel at least five witnesses around Trump to secretly provide more information to their investigations in Washington, D.C., CNN previously reported.
On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered Trump adviser Cash Patel to testify before a grand jury investigating the handling of federal records at Mar-a-Lago, according to two people familiar with the investigation.
D.C. District Court Judge Beryl Howell granted Patel immunity from prosecution for any information he provides in the investigation — another major step that brings the Justice Department closer to potentially taking on the case.
title: “Exclusive Justice Department Considering Potential Special Prosecutors If Trump Runs In 2024 "
ShowToc: true
date: “2022-11-28”
author: “Joan Roberts”
As Donald Trump nears the start of another presidential run after the midterm elections, Justice Department officials have discussed whether a Trump nomination would create the need for a special counsel to oversee two sprawling federal investigations related to the former president, sources familiar with the matter say. they know the subject. CNN.
The Justice Department is also staffing its investigations with experienced prosecutors to be ready for any decisions after the midterms, including the possible unprecedented move to indict a former president.
In the weeks leading up to the election, the Justice Department observed its traditional quiet period of not making any overt moves that might have political ramifications. But behind the scenes, investigators have stayed busy, using aggressive grand jury subpoenas and secret court battles to compel witnesses to testify in both the probe into Trump’s efforts to sway the 2020 election and the alleged mishandling of national security documents. kept at his home in Palm Beach. .
Now federal investigators are planning a flurry of post-election activity in Trump-related investigations. That includes the prospect of indictments for Trump associates — moves that could become more complicated if Trump declares a presidential run.
“They can charge almost anybody if they want to,” said a defense attorney working on matters related to Jan. 6, who added that defense attorneys “have no idea” who will ultimately be charged.
“That’s the scary thing,” said the lawyer.
Trump and his associates also face legal exposure in Georgia, where Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis is investigating Trump’s efforts to sway the 2020 election in the Peach State and expects to wrap up her investigation by the end of the year.
The indictment of an active White House candidate would certainly set off a political firestorm. And while no decision has been made on whether a special counsel might be needed in the future, Justice Department officials have discussed whether doing so could insulate the Justice Department from accusations that Joe Biden’s administration is targeting his primary political opponent, say people in the know. CNN.
Special advocates, of course, are hardly immune from political attacks. Both former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe and special counsel John Durham’s investigation into the origins of the FBI’s Russia investigation have been heavily criticized by their opponents.
The Justice Department declined to comment for this story.
The Justice Department has created a brain trust for high-level advice on the Trump investigations, according to people familiar with the moves.
Top Justice officials have turned to an old guard of former New York Southern District attorneys, bringing Kansas City-based federal prosecutor and national security expert David Raskin, as well as David Roddy, a prosecutor turned defense attorney, to the probes. specializes in gang and conspiracy cases and has worked extensively with government associates.
Roddy, whose involvement has not been previously reported, left a lucrative partnership at the prestigious defense firm Sidley Austin in recent weeks to become a senior counsel at the DOJ in the criminal division in Washington, according to his LinkedIn profile and sources familiar with the matter. movement. .
The team at the U.S. Attorney’s Office handling the day-to-day work of the Jan. 6 investigations is also growing — even as the office’s sedition cases against right-wing extremists proceed to trial.
A handful of other prosecutors have joined the Jan. 6 probe team, including a senior fraud and public corruption prosecutor who moved from a supervisor position to the team, and a prosecutor with years of criminal appeals experience who is now involved in some of the grand jury activities.
Overall, the reshuffle of prosecutors suggests a serious and avalanche of investigation into Trump and his inner circle.
The decision on whether to indict Trump or his associates will ultimately rest with Attorney General Merrick Garland, who was handpicked by President Joe Biden for the position because his tenure as a judge provided some distance from partisan politics, as Republicans of the Senate blocked his nomination for the Supreme Court in 2016. .
Several former prosecutors believe there are facts for a potentially aggravated case. But Garland will have to consider the politically risky and historic decision of how to approach the potential impeachment of a former President.
In March, Garland declined to answer a CNN question about a special counsel’s perspective on Trump-related investigations, but said the Justice Department “doesn’t shy away from cases that are controversial or sensitive or political.”
“What we will avoid and what we must avoid is any partisan element of our decision making on cases,” Garland said. “This is to ensure that the Department’s decisions are made on the merits and are made based on the facts and the law and are not based on any kind of partisan considerations.”
Garland’s tough decisions go beyond Trump. The long-running investigation into Hunter Biden, the president’s son, is nearing an end, people briefed on the matter say. Also waiting in the wings: a final decision on the investigation of Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, after prosecutors proposed not to file charges.
It likely won’t be long after the midterms before the focus turns to the 2024 presidential race. That could incentivize top Justice Department officials to make critical impeachment decisions as soon as possible, including whether to indict him of Trump or other top political activists, other sources familiar with the inner workings of the Justice Department say.
“They’re not going to indict before they’re ready to indict,” said a former Justice Department official with some insight into the thinking surrounding the investigations. “But there will be added pressure to pass review” of the cases sooner than the typical five-year window the DOJ has to bring charges.
Things could also be complicated by the situation in Georgia, where Willis is investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election there. Willis has said she aims to establish a special judicial commission to complete its investigative work by the end of the year.
Willis observed her own version of a quiet period around the midterm elections and is seeking to bring witnesses before the grand jury in the coming weeks. Sources previously told CNN that charges could be filed in December.
Key Trump allies, including South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, are among the witnesses who have tried to fight subpoenas in the state investigation into efforts to interfere in the 2020 Georgia election. .
How those disputes are resolved in Georgia — including whether courts compel testimony — could improve the Justice Department’s ability to gather information, as a Jan. 6 House Select Committee probe added to investigative guides of the Department of Justice from inside the Trump White House.
The months leading up to the election provided little respite from the political and legal activity surrounding the investigations. The US Attorney’s Office – which is still handling the bulk of the Jan. 6 investigations – has faced attrition in its ranks as prosecutors bring to trial or secure guilty pleas from more than 800 rioters who were at the Capitol. and still looking to charge hundreds more.
Trump also thwarted the Justice Department’s efforts to keep things quiet in the weeks leading up to the election, leading to a steady barrage of headlines related to the investigation.
Trump’s legal team successfully launched a complex court-directed process to sift through thousands of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago to determine whether they are privileged and off limits to investigators. But the Justice Department and the intelligence community have had access for weeks to about 100 classified records Trump kept in Florida.
The outcome of the intelligence review of those documents could determine whether criminal charges are filed, according to a source familiar with the Justice Department’s approach.
But in both investigations, the underseal court activity never abated, with the Justice Department trying to compel at least five witnesses around Trump to secretly provide more information to their investigations in Washington, D.C., CNN previously reported.
On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered Trump adviser Cash Patel to testify before a grand jury investigating the handling of federal records at Mar-a-Lago, according to two people familiar with the investigation.
D.C. District Court Judge Beryl Howell granted Patel immunity from prosecution for any information he provides in the investigation — another major step that brings the Justice Department closer to potentially taking on the case.
