Former US President Donald J. Trump visits the driving range, meets fans and watches Round 2 of the LIV Golf Washington DC 2023 at the Trump National Golf Club Washington DC in Sterling, Virginia, United States on May 27, 2023.
Kyle Mazza | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Attorneys for Donald Trump met Monday morning with special counsel Jack Smith and others Department of Justice official, a day after the former president complained about speculation that Smith was moving closer to impeaching him.
NBC News confirmed that Trump’s lawyers on Monday met with those officials at DOJ headquarters in Washington, DC, after CBS News tweeted a photo of the three lawyers walking into the building.
The attorneys, John Rowley, James Trusty and Lindsey Halligan, left the DOJ just before noon ET, but declined to comment, NBC reported.
Shortly after the meeting, Trump posted a all-caps message on his Truth Social account, saying: “How can the DOJ indict me, who did nothing wrong, if no other president has been indicted.”
The meeting did not include Attorney General Merrick Garland or Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, according to NBC.
A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.
Lawyers for former US President Donald Trump; James Trusty, Lindsey Halligan and John Rowley, left the US Justice Department after meeting with Justice Department officials regarding the Trump Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, after Trump’s lawyers last month sent a letter requesting of a meeting with US Attorney General Merrick Garland, in Washington, US June 5, 2023.
Sarah Lynch | Reuters
Smith is investigating Trump in two separate cases.
One relates to Trump’s retention of government documents, many of which are classified, at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida when he left the White House, and possible obstruction of justice in preventing the recovery of the material. that of the National Archives and Records Administration.
NBC reported Saturday that the federal grand jury hearing evidence in that case is expected to resume proceedings this week in Washington.
Trump wrote in a social media post on Sunday, “The reports are the Marxist Special Prosecutor, DOJ, and FBI, who want to indict me on the BOXES HOAX, despite all the wrongdoing they have done for SEVEN YEARS , including SPYING ON MY CAMPAIGN. .”
Another investigation by Smith focused on efforts by Trump and allies, including his campaign lawyers, to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election by President Joe Biden, and effectively block the confirmation of Biden’s Electoral victory. College through a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump, who is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is also being criminally investigated by a state prosecutor in Atlanta for his efforts to get Georgia officials to overturn Biden’s victory in that state in 2020. Georgia is one of several swing states Biden won, sealing his victory in the Electoral College.
Trump was criminally indicted in March by a New York City grand jury on an indictment accusing him of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment made by his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to a porn star before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in that case, which is set to go to trial next March, in the middle of the presidential primary season.
He is the only US president, former or otherwise, to be criminally indicted.
– CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report.
