ICYMI: Jack Smith’s Classified Documents Case Based on “Non-Criminal” Referral, Initially Dismissed by FBI as “Spillage” Issue

WASHINGTON – Records obtained by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) show Special Counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case against President Trump began as a non-criminal referral with “little likelihood of being pursued as a criminal matter.” “Jack Smith’s operation was a partisan weapon. He broke the rules, lied to the court and engaged in bad faith throughout. His operation has no credibility – only to the partisan media and Democrats who cheered him on,” Grassley said . Background: On February 9, 2022, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) sent an email to the Department of Justice (DOJ) requesting guidance on classified records that NARA had received from Mar-a-Lago. This NARA OIG “referral” email served as the Biden DOJ’s justification for opening its classified documents investigation, which ultimately led to a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago and Special Counsel Jack Smith’s criminal prosecution of President Trump. Jack Smith asserted in court filings that the classified documents investigation into President Trump was entirely proper because it was “[p]rompted by NARA’s discovery of classified documents in the 15 boxes in January 2022 and a criminal referral from NARA in February 2022.” However, according to a January 2023 entry in a NARA OIG case repor t, NARA OIG did not classify its February email to DOJ as a criminal referral . NARA OIG wrote, “the OIG determined that this matter and the other relevant matters be classified as -R (referral to DOJ for their assessment and guidance, not the same as a criminal referral for prosecution which is only done for criminal investigations).” Additionally, internal NARA OIG communications obtained by Grassley show that the FBI had identified the classified documents matter as nothing more than a “spillage” issue, with “little likelihood of being pursued as a criminal matter.” -30-