Trump Special Counsel Fends Off Effort to Disclose Employee List

The US special counsel investigating Donald Trump doesn’t have to hand over the names of his employees to conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, a federal judge ruled.

The rosters of Jack Smith’s workers fall under a Freedom of Information Act exemption for records related to law enforcement proceedings, the US District Court for the District of Columbia said Wednesday.

Judge Christopher R. Cooper granted summary judgment to the US Department of Justice in Judicial Watch’s suit seeking the information.

Judicial Watch filed a complaint in the D.C. federal court last year arguing the Justice Department violated the FOIA by not responding to the group’s request for staff rosters of all employees hired by or assigned to Smith’s special counsel office. The request was narrowed to the names of employees at a top pay grade whose identities haven’t been disclosed, and both parties sought summary judgment.

The Justice Department doesn’t have to provide Judicial Watch with the information because the agency showed that doing so could interfere with an ongoing law enforcement proceeding, Cooper said.

“Judicial Watch may be correct that employee rosters are common,” Cooper wrote. “But the fact remains that these employee rosters describe everyone working on active criminal investigations and were created to facilitate those investigations.”

And disclosing the records could hinder the special counsel’s work, Cooper said. His probe involves “events surrounding one of the most fraught elections in recent American history,” the judge wrote. “The Court finds it is both logical and plausible that disclosure of employees’ names and their contact information will expose them to harassment and threats that will impede their ability to perform their public duties.”

Disclosing the names could compromise the office’s work by revealing nonpublic information about its scope and focus, Cooper also said.

Cooper’s decision Wednesday comes as Smith presses ahead with prosecuting Trump on charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election after the special counsel’s case faced a setback in the US Supreme Court in July. Smith, appointed by US Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022, has also accused Trump of mishandling classified documents, but a federal trial court in Florida tossed the case. Smith is appealing that decision.

Trump is contending with the special counsel in court as the former president seeks the White House again in a race against US Vice President Kamala Harris.

Paul J. Orfanedes, of Washington, represents Judicial Watch, Inc.

The case is Jud. Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Dep’t Of Just., D.D.C., No. 1:23-cv-01485, 9/4/24.