May 23 (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s lawyers asked on Tuesday to meet with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland about the work of a special counsel who is handling two investigations into the former president.
“No President of the United States has ever, in the history of our country, been wrongfully investigated in such an outrageous and unlawful manner,” attorneys John Rowley and James Trusty wrote in a letter Trump posted on social media.
They requested a meeting with Garland “at the earliest opportunity to discuss the continuing injustice perpetrated by your special counsel and his prosecutors.”
Garland appointed special counsel Jack Smith in November to handle the two Trump investigations.
The first investigation focuses on attempts to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power following Trump’s November 2020 election defeat to President Joe Biden.
The second examines Trump’s retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after he left office in January 2021, and whether he attempted to obstruct the Justice Department investigation.
Trump’s lawyers did not specify in the letter which investigation they wanted to discuss.
The letter was not signed by Evan Corcoran, who is recused from the classified documents investigation after a judge compelled him to testify before a grand jury about his discussions with Trump over the material. Corcoran is still working with Trump’s legal team on the second investigation.
A Justice Department spokesperson and a spokesperson for Smith declined to comment on Trump’s lawyers’ request to meet with Garland.
Reporting by Michelle Nichols and Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Robert Birsel
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