Nears conclusion

Trump legal team seeks meeting with Garland as documents probe nears conclusion

The former president posted the letter on Truth Social.

By KYLE CHENEY and JOSH GERSTEIN

Lawyers for Donald Trump are seeking a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland, the latest indication that special counsel Jack Smith is nearing the indictment phase of his probe of Trump’s handling of classified documents.

Attorneys John Rowley and James Trusty wrote to Garland on Tuesday seeking a meeting at the attorney general’s “earliest convenience.” Trump posted the letter to Truth Social late in the evening.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.

Smith has been hauling in top aides to Trump as he advances two extraordinary criminal investigations into the former president and his allies. In one, Smith is pursuing a sprawling inquiry into Trump’s bid to subvert the 2020 election, obtaining testimony from figures like former Vice President Mike Pence and top aides in Trump’s White House.

Smith is also probing Trump’s alleged mishandling of highly classified national security records at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving office, as well as alleged efforts by the former president to resist returning those records to the federal government even after a Justice Department subpoena.

It’s this second investigation that appears closer to the charging phase. Smith recently secured testimony from Trump’s own attorney — Evan Corcoran — after a secret court battle led to an appeals court ruling in favor of the Justice Department. The Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday, just hours before Trump posted the letter, that the documents probe appeared all but concluded, with indictments anticipated imminently.

In their letter, the lawyers don’t mention the prospect of indictments or even specify which of Smith’s investigations they’re referencing. Rather they describe it as an effort to “discuss the ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his prosecutors.”

Though Rowley and Trusty signed the letter, they copied another Trump attorney, Todd Blanche, who has represented Trump in his pending criminal case in New York.