Donald Trump is asking House Republicans to subpoena Special Counsel Jack Smith over the Justice Department’s criminal investigations into the former president.
In a post to his Truth Social account on Wednesday, Trump supported the effort from Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna to hold U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in “inherent contempt” after the DOJ refused to turn over the audio recording from an October 2023 interview of President Joe Biden.
Trump added in the post, “House Republicans should also subpoena Deranged Jack Smith and look into his ILLEGAL INVESTIGATION of me immediately.”
The House voted to hold Garland in contempt last month, but the Justice Department declined to press charges based on the resolution. Luna’s resolution introduced to the House on Wednesday would fine the attorney general $10,000 each day that he fails to turn over the audio tapes related to special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation of Biden’s handling of classified documents.
Smith’s office, on the other hand, is leading the investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents that were recovered from his Mar-a-Lago estate during an FBI raid in August 2022. The former president has pleaded not guilty to all 40 felony counts brought against him by the DOJ in the case.
Trump has also pleaded not guilty to four federal charges related to his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the lead-up to the riots in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. That case, brought by Smith, is currently in limbo after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump was protected under presidential immunity for any official acts. A lower court was tasked to determine which of Trump’s actions listed in the indictment constitute as an official act as president.
The former president also advocated in his Truth Social post for Republicans to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require that voters provide documentary proof of their citizenship status before voting in a federal election. The bill passed the House on Wednesday in a 221-198 vote.
“Republicans MUST GET TOUGH about stopping weaponization and cheating!” Trump wrote. “They may just be coming for me and my elections today, but they will come for all the Republicans very soon if they succeed!”
Newsweek reached out to the Department of Justice‘s press office for comment on Trump’s post.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the legal challenges against him are a form of election interference amid his bid for a second term in office this November. Preliminary polling has shown that the 2024 election will be a tight race between Trump and Biden.
GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
