Pressure is building on the Biden administration to put up records that may “indicate collusion” between the Justice Department and state prosecutors in the hush money case against former President Donald Trump in Manhattan, with several Republicans at various levels of government seeking documents, including through a new investigation launched by West Virginia on Monday.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, a Trump ally, submitted a Freedom of Information Act request on Monday to the DOJ asking it to produce documents concerning an ex-DOJ employee’s transition to employment by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting Trump in the 34-count hush money case.
“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 in a statement to the Washington Examiner, referring to the other three indictments Trump faces as he seeks another run for the presidency.
Morrisey said he believes the alleged collusion is demonstrated in part by the move of the third-highest ranking DOJ official, Matthew Colangelo, to the district attorney’s office to help prosecute the criminal case, New York v. Trump, according to a letter he penned to Attorney General Merrick Garland. The West Virginia attorney general also noted Colangelo was “paid thousands of dollars by the Democratic National Committee.”
“The timing on these cases is suspect, to say the least — the integrity of our country’s election process is at stake,” Morrisey said. His new FOIA request falls on the same day the Trump hush money trial entered its 16th day of witness testimony, featuring testimony from star witness Michael Cohen.
Morrisey’s investigation is similar in nature to a separate request by Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who noted last week that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat, was fulfilling a campaign promise by going after Trump.
Bailey said Bragg’s decision to bring the prosecution “despite its transparent weakness has nonetheless had the effect of keeping former President Trump off the campaign trail, which President Biden has bragged about.”
Last week, Bragg entered the courtroom in which Trump has been forced to sit for weeks for the first time since the trial began in late April.
Morrisey is also seeking all documents involving communication between any DOJ employees and the following subjects: special counsel Jack Smith, Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, Bragg, and any person employed by their offices who reports to the aforementioned people.
Likewise, the House Judiciary Committee has kept up the pressure to investigate Colangelo.
“That a former senior Biden Justice Department official is now leading the prosecution of President Biden’s chief political rival only adds to the perception that the Biden Justice Department is politicized and weaponized,” Jordan wrote in a letter to the DOJ last month.
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Trump is facing criminal indictments in two federal cases led by Smith, which include an alleged conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election and Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents. Willis in Fulton County, Georgia, alleges Trump led a criminal enterprise with the intent to subvert a local election. He has pleaded not guilty in all four cases.
The Washington Examiner contacted the Justice Department for a response.