Jordan presses White House over meetings with Jack Smith staffer

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan on Tuesday wrote to White House chief of staff Jeff Zients and Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding that the pair account for reports that a staffer in special counsel Jack Smith's office repeatedly met with Biden White House officials.

Jordan contended that contact between the White House and the office of an officially independent prosecutor pursuing multiple cases against President Joe Biden's chief political opponent had called the probe's integrity into question. Smith has brought two cases against former President Donald Trump related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents and his efforts to challenge the 2020 presidential election results.

"According to recent reporting, Jay Bratt—a Department of Justice employee and top aide to Special Counsel Jack Smith—met with White House officials multiple times, just weeks before Mr. Smith indicted former President Donald Trump," Jordan wrote to Zients. "This new information raises serious concerns regarding the potential for a coordinated effort between the Department and the White House to investigate and prosecute President Biden’s political opponents."

The letter then proceeds to document the various meetings between Bratt and White House officials between 2021 and 2023. It further highlighted allegations that Bratt, in particular, "improperly pressured" a lawyer representing a Trump employee to cooperate with the Department of Justice's prosecution of the former president.

"These facts reinforce the serious concern that Mr. Smith is not running an impartial and unprejudiced investigation and prosecution," Jordan insisted. "The Committee has a significant interest in examining how the Department runs its Special Counsel investigations to inform potential legislative reforms concerning the Department’s Special Counsel practices and operations."

Jordan demanded that Zients and Garland provide the Judiciary Committee with documents related to Bratt's myriad visits as well as any communications between the Department of Justice and the Biden White House related to Smith's operations.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.