{"id":2340389,"date":"2024-09-12T19:08:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T23:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-official-asked-to-appear-before-congress-over-jack-smith-ethics-allegations-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-09-12T19:11:44","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T23:11:44","slug":"doj-official-asked-to-appear-before-congress-over-jack-smith-ethics-allegations-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-official-asked-to-appear-before-congress-over-jack-smith-ethics-allegations-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ official asked to appear before Congress over Jack Smith ethics allegations &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdoj-official-asked-to-appear-before-congress-over-jack-smith-ethics-allegations-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2340389&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The House\u2063 Judiciary Committee, led by Republican Chairman Jim Jordan, is requesting a Department of Justice (DOJ) official, Jeffrey Ragsdale, to appear before Congress to address allegations of ethical violations concerning special counsel Jack \u2063Smith&#8217;s office. This request follows the DOJ&#8217;s \u2063lack of substantial response to prior inquiries regarding two prosecutors on Smith&#8217;s team\u2014Jay Bratt and J.P. Cooney. \u200d <\/p>\n<p>Bratt is accused of inappropriate conduct during a meeting with an \u2064attorney representing\u200c co-defendant Walt Nauta\u200b in the case against former President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, Cooney\u200c allegedly made dubious claims about preferential treatment given to Trump associates\u200b in sentencing discussions related to \u2062Roger Stone. Although an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/d-c-protesters-rally-outside-of-u-s-capitol-to-pressure-lawmakers-for-bigger-stimulus-checks\/\" title=\"D.C. protesters rally outside of U.S. Capitol to pressure lawmakers for bigger stimulus checks\">inspector general&#8217;<\/a>s report criticized Cooney&#8217;s statements, it did not \u2063lead to\u200d a referral to the Office of Professional Responsibility. Jordan expressed\u200b concerns\u2063 over both prosecutors&#8217; actions and \u2064the\u2062 DOJ&#8217;s apparent disregard for providing transparency on these\u200b matters. The \u200bcommittee aims for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/don-jr-i-wont-jump-on-bandwagon-to-cancel-sen-cruz\/\" title=\"Don Jr.: I won\u2019t jump on bandwagon to cancel Sen. Cruz\">closed-door interview<\/a>\u200b by September 26\u200c to delve deeper into these ethics\u2064 allegations.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">DOJ official asked to appear before Congress over Jack Smith ethics allegations<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1739145\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee asked a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/justice-department\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Department of Justice\">Department of Justice<\/a> official on Thursday to appear before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/congress\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Congress\">Congress<\/a> to discuss how the department has addressed allegations of ethical violations against special counsel Jack Smith&rsquo;s office.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Committee Chairman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/jim-jordan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Jim Jordan\">Jim Jordan<\/a> (R-OH) wrote to Jeffrey Ragsdale, the head of the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility, asking to arrange a closed-door interview with Ragsdale by Sept. 26, after the DOJ had been unresponsive to the chairman&rsquo;s previous requests for information on the matter.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In reply to our inquiries, the Department has declined to provide any substantive information or any meaningful response to give the Committee confidence&rdquo; that the Office of Professional Responsibility is following its standards, Jordan wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan&rsquo;s interview request comes after the chairman wrote twice to the DOJ seeking information about two prosecutors on Smith&rsquo;s team, Jay Bratt and J.P. Cooney, regarding ethics allegations made against both of them.<\/p>\n<p>Bratt&rsquo;s was raised by an attorney representing Walt Nauta, one of the co-defendants in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-asks-supreme-court-to-reject-trump-request-in-fbi-classified-documents-case\/\" title=\"DOJ Asks Supreme Court to Reject Trump Request in FBI Classified Documents Case\">classified documents case<\/a> against former President Donald Trump. The attorney, Stanley Woodward, said in court papers that during a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ny-gov-cuomo-shunned-experts-embraced-lobbyists-drove-top-health-officials-to-quit-over-pandemic-response-report\/\" title=\"NY Gov. Cuomo Shunned Experts, Embraced Lobbyists, Drove Top Health Officials To Quit Over Pandemic Response: Report\">closed-door meeting<\/a>, Bratt inappropriately brought up Woodward&rsquo;s application to become a judge while Bratt was seeking Woodward&rsquo;s compliance in the Trump case. Smith disputed what happened and questioned why Woodward waited several months to express his concern about the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>Cooney, a key figure involved in prosecuting Trump ally Roger Stone for lying to Congress, allegedly said during closed-door discussions about Stone&rsquo;s sentencing in 2020 that top Trump administration officials were giving Stone preferential treatment by recommending a lighter sentence for him. The DOJ inspector general <a href=\"https:\/\/oig.justice.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/reports\/24-081.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>found<\/a> this was not a &ldquo;well considered&rdquo; move by Cooney but did not refer him to the DOJ&rsquo;s Office of Professional Responsibility, according to an inspector general report published this year.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan said that Cooney&rsquo;s conduct &ldquo;as outlined by the OIG&mdash;spreading baseless, politically motivated conspiracy theories during internal Department sentencing deliberations&mdash;certainly concerns his professionalism as an attorney and thus appear to fall within OPR&rsquo;s jurisdiction.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The interview request from Jordan came the same day Attorney General Merrick Garland took a veiled shot at Republicans for repeatedly bringing attention to longtime career officials in the DOJ, such as Ragsdale, Bratt, and Cooney. Jordan, in particular, has frequently launched public inquiries into various officials&rsquo; involvement in high-profile and controversial prosecutions. However, Garland argued these were bad-faith efforts that caused his employees to receive threats.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There has been an escalation of attacks on the Justice Department&rsquo;s career lawyers, agents, and other personnel that go far beyond scrutiny, criticism, and legitimate and necessary oversight of our work,&rdquo; Garland said. &ldquo;These attacks have come in the form of conspiracy theories, dangerous falsehoods, efforts to bully and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-live-merrick-garland-rejects-accusations-of-weaponized-doj-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"WATCH LIVE: Merrick Garland rejects accusations of weaponized DOJ - Washington Examiner\">intimidate career public servants<\/a> by repeatedly and publicly singling them out, and threats of actual violence.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>A DOJ spokeswoman confirmed the department received Jordan&rsquo;s letter but declined to comment further.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1739145\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1739145\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Department of Justice (DOJ) official has been requested to testify before Congress regarding ethical allegations against special counsel Jack Smith&#8217;s office. On Thursday, the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Jim Jordan (R-OH), sent a letter to Jeffrey Ragsdale, who heads the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility, asking for a closed-door interview by September 26. This request follows the DOJ&#8217;s lack of response to previous inquiries from Jordan about how they are handling ethics concerns related to two prosecutors on Smith\u2019s team: Jay Bratt and J.P. Cooney.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan expressed frustration in his letter, stating that the DOJ had not provided any substantial information or meaningful responses that would assure the committee that proper standards were being upheld within the Office of Professional Responsibility. The request for an interview comes after Jordan had previously reached out twice regarding allegations against Bratt and Cooney.<\/p>\n<p>Bratt is accused of inappropriately mentioning an attorney&#8217;s judicial application during discussions about compliance in a case involving former President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, Cooney allegedly made politically charged comments during internal discussions about sentencing Roger Stone, which were deemed unwise but did not lead to a referral for further investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan highlighted concerns over Cooney\u2019s conduct as described by the DOJ inspector general and suggested it fell under OPR\u2019s jurisdiction due to its implications on professionalism. This request coincided with Attorney General Merrick Garland criticizing Republicans for targeting career officials at the DOJ and suggesting these actions have led to threats against them.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson from the DOJ confirmed receipt of Jordan&#8217;s letter but did not provide additional comments on the matter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":2340390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Jack-Smith-05.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4402,7076,40776,32463,32076],"class_list":["post-2340389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-congress","tag-doj","tag-ethics-allegations","tag-jack-smith","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Jack-Smith-05.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2340389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2340389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2340389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2340390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2340389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2340389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2340389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}