Jay Bratt retired from the Justice Division final week, a spokesperson confirmed.
A prime Division of Justice (DOJ) counterintelligence official who labored on particular counsel Jack Smith’s categorized paperwork case in opposition to President-elect Donald Trump has left the company, a spokesperson stated on Monday.
A DOJ spokesperson confirmed that Jay Bratt, the DOJ official detailed to particular counsel Jack Smith’s workplace, retired from the division on Jan. 3. No different particulars have been offered, and Bratt hasn’t made a public assertion on the matter.
Nevertheless, he was concerned in Smith’s categorized paperwork case introduced in opposition to Trump. The case accused the then-former president of illegally retaining tranches of delicate supplies after he left the White Home in 2021 and of obstructing makes an attempt by federal officers to retrieve them. Trump pleaded not responsible to the fees and stated he engaged in no wrongdoing.
The investigation resulted in dozens of FBI brokers executing a search warrant on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Seaside, Florida, in August 2022.
Bratt joined Smith’s workplace when the particular counsel took over the investigation in 2023 and helped safe an indictment accusing Trump of the alleged crimes. Nevertheless, in July 2024, U.S. District Decide Aileen Cannon dismissed all fees after discovering that Smith was not correctly appointed as particular counsel by Legal professional Normal Merrick Garland. Smith appealed the ruling.
Smith’s workforce finally dropped their bid in opposition to Trump after his November 2024 election victory, citing DOJ precedent relating to not prosecuting presidents. Across the identical time, Smith’s workforce dropped Trump’s separate, election-related case, introduced in a federal court docket in Washington.
Final week, federal prosecutors signaled they might nonetheless pursue fees in opposition to two Trump staff, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, accused of obstructing the investigation. Each have pleaded not responsible.
In line with court docket paperwork, prosecutors denied any improper conduct and stated Bratt raised Woodward’s software as an expert courtesy.
In line with court docket papers filed in 2024, Bratt allegedly had “instructed Mr. Woodward he didn’t take into account him to be a ‘Trump lawyer,’ and he additional stated he was conscious that Mr. Woodward had been really helpful to President Biden for an appointment to the Superior Courtroom of the District of Columbia.” He then allegedly instructed Woodward, “I wouldn’t need you to do something to mess that up,” the papers state.
Throughout a contentious court docket listening to on Could 22, 2024, Woodward introduced up these allegations in opposition to Bratt.
“I had been really helpful for a judgeship. That’s past dispute,” Woodward stated on the time in a federal courthouse in Florida. “There was a folder about protection counsel on the desk.”
Federal prosecutor David Harbach sought to rebuff Woodward’s claims in that listening to, saying the legal professional was partaking in “procedural gamesmanship” and that “his story of what occurred at that assembly [with Bratt] is a fantasy.”
At one level in that encounter, Cannon instructed Harbach to “settle down” after he banged his hand on the lectern and insisted that what Woodward claimed “didn’t occur.”
The Epoch Instances contacted the DOJ for added remark Monday however obtained no reply by publication time.
Reuters contributed to this report.