‘Double Standard of Justice’: Grassley Reveals Messages on Jack Smith’s Team and Classified Materials

Newly released messages appear to show that Biden Justice Department officials, including those working for former special counsel Jack Smith, possibly mishandled classified information.

Smith’s team investigated President Donald Trump, then out of office, from late 2022 through 2024, for alleged mishandling of classified material. Smith also investigated Trump for his conduct in challenging the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Wednesday sent a four-page letter to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche highlighting messages that “appear related to Smith’s case against President Trump.” The messages “raise serious concerns about the Biden administration’s failure to properly secure classified materials,” the letter stated.

“Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. According to these messages, Biden DOJ personnel may have committed the very offense for which Jack Smith was prosecuting President Trump,” Grassley said in a statement Wednesday. “These records expose yet another double standard of justice.”

The Grassley letter to Blanche says that the messages show “an individual was given access to classified materials without confirming they had the requisite ‘need to know.’”

It continues, “There was at least one instance where the potential movement of classified materials accessed by SCO [special counsel’s office] personnel housed in a Justice Department SCIF [sensitive compartmented information facility] was unaccounted for.” The letter also states, “‘A violation and incident’ occurred when a SCIF accessible to SCO personnel was left open at least overnight and potentially longer.”

“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,” Grassley continued in his statement. “These and other records I’ve made public show the Biden Justice Department was unquestionably careless, not to mention highly hypocritical.”

Smith secured a federal grand jury indictment against Trump for allegedly mishandling classified information at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. However, the case was dismissed on procedural grounds.

Smith also secured a federal grand jury indictment in Washington, D.C., in the election case against Trump, but he dropped the case after Trump won the 2024 election.

Grassley gave Blanche a July 22 deadline to respond to inquiries about whether the potentially mishandled classified material was used to prosecute Trump. He also asked whether the Biden Justice Department conducted any investigation into Smith’s team having access to classified information without first confirming their need to know.

Grassley further wanted to know the names and positions of all special counsel and Justice Department staff who were granted access to the classified information.