Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for records concerning meetings between former Special Counsel Jack Smith and members of his team and two Obama-appointed federal judges who presided over matters involving President Donald Trump (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:26-cv-02027)).

Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit after the Justice Department failed to respond to a March 24, 2026, FOIA request submitted to the Office of Information Policy (OIP) for all records concerning meetings between Special Counsel Jack Smith and/or members of his team and Chief Judge Beryl Howell or Judge James Boasberg from December 2022 through April 2023, including notes, recordings, transcripts, calendar entries, agendas, presentations, and other related documents.

On November 18, 2022, three days after Trump announced he would run for president again in 2024, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith to investigate potential criminal wrongdoing by Trump. The appointment came nine days after then-President Joe Biden announced his effort to make sure Trump did not become president again.

In March 2026, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released briefing notes prepared for Attorney General Merrick Garland from January 2023 that refer to interactions between Smith's team and Judges Howell and Boasberg. The notes describe a meeting with Howell in which Smith's team discussed the pace of the investigation over the preceding month and state that Howell "liked our approach of pursuing the executive privilege litigation in an omnibus fashion." The briefing notes also state that, regarding a planned omnibus executive privilege motion involving former Trump administration officials, "Chief Judge knows it is coming and loves idea."

The notes also reference "Judge Boasberg = March 18." Boasberg became chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on March 17, 2023, succeeding Howell and assuming responsibility for supervising grand jury matters before the court.

"There are important questions about communications between Jack Smith's team and the federal judges involved in President Trump's cases," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "The American people deserve full transparency regarding these meetings and any discussions."

Before his appointment to investigate and prosecute Trump, Smith previously was at the center of several other controversial issues, the IRS scandal among them.

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