Special Counsel Jack Smith is focusing his probe into former President Donald Trump's role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol to Trump's team of lawyers, specifically former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Sources "familiar with the matter" told the publication that Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to conduct investigations into the former president for his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021, and his possible role in the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has recently been issuing subpoenas to key members of Trump's legal team involved with post-2020 election activities.
Attorneys Sidney Powell, Emily Newman, and Mike Roman are among those receiving the subpoenas requesting information and communications within the team regarding their efforts during the 2020 election cycle.
The report said that Giuliani spoke with prosecutors assigned to the case by Smith for eight hours about discussions and communications he had with Trump and his attorneys during that time.
The prosecutors probed Giuliani about a meeting in the Oval Office in December, 2020, where Powell allegedly pitched a plan for the U.S. military to seize voting machines used during the election, the report said.
According to the journal, the meeting erupted into a shouting match leading to Trump calling in Giuliani, who was attending a dinner at Georgetown University, to come to the White House as a "referee."
Smith has already had Trump indicted on more than 30 felonies regarding the document case, which Trump pleaded not guilty to during his arraignment in Miami last month.
The second investigation, according to the Journal, is determining if Trump, or those in his circle, furnished "fake electors" for the 2020 race to members of Congress to overturn the results of the election.
That investigation is also piggybacking on a probe in the state of Georgia which is investigating Trump for allegedly trying to influence Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to change results there.
According to the report, Smith's prosecutors recently questioned Raffensperger in Atlanta as part of the federal investigation, which is apart from that state's criminal probe.
In addition, Smith is also investigating fundraising Trump is doing based on his election fraud claims as he runs in the 2024 race, under the theory that the claims are so far removed from truth that they are no longer protected under the First Amendment protecting free speech, the report said.
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