CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office has submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for the U.S. Department of Justice to produce documents showing the department may have colluded with state prosecutors involved in cases against former President Trump.
Morrisey’s office sent the four-page request May 13 to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. The request demands any information on meetings attended by a DOJ employee and any of the prosecutors “pursuing President Trump for illusory violations of state law.”
“The American people have a right to know what is going on, especially when it comes to whether DOJ is using taxpayer monies and the coercive lever of the federal government to manipulate elections,” Morrisey wrote in the letter. “This strategy against a former President and current political candidate seems to be an unprecedented weaponization of the prosecutorial system for political ends.
“Yet when Congress recently asked state-level prosecutors to provide basic information on their efforts (including some of the same information I seek here), Democratic prosecutors responded with vitriol, denial and obstruction. The responses further imply something more than routine criminal investigation may be in play here.”
In the request, Morrisey cites an example of senior DOJ official Michael Colangelo, who moved from that leadership post to a line prosecutor job in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and was paid thousands of dollars by the Democratic National Committee.
The FOIA request also notes Fulton County officials in Georgia were in contact with the White House, suggesting “the prosecutor’s work in Atlanta has tracked much of the DOJ’s own work, implying that the Department (DOJ) may have given Fulton County the roadmap for charges.”
“In short, the public facts confirm that DOJ is tied up with Democratic prosecutors intent on doing exactly the kind of politically-motivated work that department policy says is forbidden,” Morrisey wrote. “Thus, I am requesting a limited amount of information that will shed further light on whether West Virginians – and all Americans – have even greater cause for concern.
“Given the extraordinary circumstances, I urge you not to rely on exceptions to the Freedom of Information Act, vague descriptions of federal authority or foot-dragging efforts to push answers beyond the election. These questions are too important to shield from scrutiny.”
Morrisey also tells Garland he should take the issue up soon to “dissipate the cloud over your Department.”
“We need to get to the bottom of this political prosecution of a former president who is on track to defeat the incumbent in November,” Morrisey said. “The timing on these cases is suspect, to say the least – the integrity of our country’s election process is at stake.”
Morrisey requests documents regarding Colangelo’s switch from the DOJ to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office as well as documents about any meetings or communications including DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith, New York State Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, any DOJ employee who reports to Smith, any NYAG employee, any Manhattan DA employee or any Fulton County DA employee.