Prosecutors working under former special counsel Jack Smith may have mishandled classified materials, according to internal government records that emerged Wednesday. The documents suggest that classified information was accessed without confirming a "need to know" basis for those reviewing it.
Communications from July 2023 indicated investigators provided access to classified materials under circumstances that did not confirm appropriate review protocols. Further communications from October 2023 revealed a "classified letter" was left unsecured. In April 2024, a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) was found left open because it had not been secured the previous day. One Department of Justice official described such an incident as "a violation and an incident."
Stephanie Van Buskirk, an assistant to Jack Smith, has been identified as potentially responsible for the security lapse involving the open SCIF. It remains unclear if the personnel involved in these exchanges were working on the specific cases against former President Donald Trump concerning the alleged retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate or his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Trump was indicted twice by Smith in 2023. The first indictment, in June, pertained to the documents case. The second, in August, concerned the election case. Both indictments were later dismissed.
A federal judge in South Florida dismissed the classified documents case, citing Smith's appointment without congressional approval. Smith subsequently requested the dismissal of the election case after Trump won the 2024 presidential election.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released these communications in a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, asserting they indicated a "double standard" by the Biden administration. "Talk about the pot calling the kettle black," Grassley stated. "According to these messages, Biden DOJ personnel may have committed the very offense for which Jack Smith was prosecuting President Trump."
Grassley's letter also referenced former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's handling of classified material and the Justice Department's decision under former President Barack Obama not to prosecute her. Additionally, it noted former President Joe Biden's retention of classified material at his Delaware residence and a post-vice presidency office in Washington, D.C. Former special counsel Robert Hur did not pursue charges in Biden's case, partly due to a belief that a jury might view Biden as a "sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory."
"These records expose yet another double standard of justice," Grassley added. "While Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden escaped accountability for mishandling highly classified information, Jack Smith and the Biden DOJ set out to paint President Trump as a felon and ruin him politically." He characterized the Justice Department as "unquestionably careless, not to mention highly hypocritical."
Grassley has requested further details from Blanche regarding the individuals involved in the communications, whether any investigation was conducted, if anyone was held accountable, and if Smith's team notified a federal court of the security violations. Representatives for the DOJ and Smith's attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment.