Elise Stefanik.1/3
@EliseStefanik
I just filed an official ethics complaint against Jack Smith with the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility for his illegal election interference.
It’s obvious to any reasonable observer that Jack Smith is trying to interfere with the 2024 election and stop the American people from electing Donald Trump. At every turn, he has sought to accelerate his illegal prosecution of President Trump for the clear (if unstated) purpose of trying him before the November election.The Justice Department’s own policies clearly prohibit Smith from doing so, and as a DOJ employee he is bound by those policies.Moreover, when thedistrict court imposed a stay on the proceedings, Smith and his office ignored it and continued to file discovery documents. Smith’s conduct has brought disrepute to the Department of Justice and the entire federal government, and the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility should impose the discipline that such conduct warrants.
Read my full complaint below:
April 30, 2024
Jeffrey Ragsdale, Counsel
Office of Professional Responsibility
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 3266
Washington, D.C. 20530-0001
Re: Complaint of Election Interference Against Biden Special Counsel Jack Smith
Mr. Ragsdale:
I write today to request an ethics investigation of Biden Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith for abusing the resources of the federal government to unlawfully interfere with the 2024 presidential election. Jack Smith’s multiple attempts to rush to trial the federal January 6th case against President Trump violated long-standing, explicit Justice Department policy. Further, Jack Smith’s repeated violations of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia’s stay of proceedings are a lawless breach of trial ethics and lawyerly conduct. Jack Smith’s actions brought disrepute to the Justice Department and the federal government as a whole, and he should face discipline appropriately.
ATTEMPTING TO EXPEDITE TRIAL IN VIOLATION OF DOJ POLICY
In June 2023, Biden special counsel Jack Smith obtained an indictment against President Donald J. Trump. The indictment charges President Trump with several offenses in relation to the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021. President Trump is now the presumptive Republican nominee for President, having won enough delegates to secure the nomination on March 12, 2024. As we will demonstrate, Biden special counsel Jack Smith is attempting to expedite the trial in order to influence the general election in November. This conduct violates Section 9-85.500 of DOJ’s Justice Manual to which Jack Smith is bound.1
Section 9-85.500 dictates that “[f]ederal prosecutors . . . may never select the timing of any action . . . for the purpose of affecting any election, or for the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party.” Jack Smith first violated this rule when–in August 2023–he petitioned the District Court for a January 2, 2024, trial date. There exist approximately thirteen million pages of discovery for President Trump to review, plus thousands of hours of camera footage. Prosecutors bringing a case of this complexity–with so many consequential and novel legal issues to sort out–would normally never seek to bring it to trial within five months. The only reason to push for such an early trial date was to work to get the case tried before the November election, and the Justice Department Manual clearly forbids Jack Smith from taking any action on that basis.
Biden special counsel Jack Smith next violated this Justice Department provision when he petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States for a writ of certiorari before judgment in December.2 This extraordinary petition sought to bypass the normal appellate process, which involves a decision by a Court of Appeals panel and, possibly, review by the en banc court. Jack Smith asserted that it was “imperative” for the Supreme Court to grant his highly unusual request,3 but on December 22, 2023, the Supreme Court denied Jack Smith’s petition….
https://x.com/EliseStefanik/status/1785282244493357291