Jack Smith spent two years trying to put Donald Trump in prison over classified documents.
Now Chuck Grassley has the text messages from inside Smith's own office.
What those messages show should have Jack Smith sweating through his suit.
Jack Smith's Team Left a Biden DOJ SCIF Unsecured Overnight
The messages, handed to Senator Chuck Grassley by the Trump DOJ in response to congressional oversight requests, reveal three separate classified document failures inside Jack Smith's Special Counsel Office.
Internal messages show staffer Carli Rodriguez-Feo telling a colleague that whoever approved the clearance had "just moved forward" without need-to-know confirmation and made clear they didn't care if concerns had been raised.
In a second incident, Smith's team lost track of classified materials held inside a Justice Department sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) – with no accounting for where they went.
Third – someone left the SCIF door open overnight and potentially longer.
Internal messages document the discovery plainly: "no one opened it yesterday because no one closed it the day before."
That triggered an internal flag: "That's a violation and incident so I need to know the details."
Grassley identified the individual who opened the SCIF "the day before" as someone who served as an assistant to Jack Smith himself.
Named in the communications are Senior Assistant Special Counsel Molly Gaston, prosecutor Thomas Windom, Rodriguez-Feo, William O'Neil, Julie Edelstein, and Stephanie Van Buskirk – the person whose actions the messages connect directly to the "violation and incident."
Grassley Demands Answers on Classified Documents Breach Inside Jack Smith's Special Counsel Office
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Wednesday demanding answers by July 22.
Grassley wants to know whether the compromised SCIF housed evidence from Smith's prosecution of Trump, whether any classified material was lost, altered, or tampered with, and whether anyone inside the Biden DOJ was ever held accountable.
He also wants to know whether Smith disclosed the security breach to Trump's legal team or to the federal judge overseeing the prosecution.
That last question is the most serious one on Grassley's list.
Defense attorneys have a legal right to know when classified evidence central to a prosecution was exposed, moved, or left unaccounted for – and silence on that point was a choice, not an oversight.
Withholding a known security breach from the court and from Trump's legal team is a serious question of prosecutorial conduct, and Blanche will now have to answer for it on the record.
"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black," Grassley said in his statement.
"According to these messages, Biden DOJ personnel may have committed the very offense for which Jack Smith was prosecuting President Trump. These records expose yet another double standard of justice."
A Prosecutor Tied to Jack Smith's Case Was Already Indicted for Stealing Classified Records
Two months ago, a federal prosecutor whose office supported Smith's case was indicted for stealing a sealed copy of Smith's report.
Carmen Lineberger – the managing assistant U.S. attorney in Fort Pierce, Florida – allegedly renamed the sealed document "Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf" and emailed it to her personal Gmail account to hide it from detection.
She has pleaded not guilty.
Now Grassley's oversight has surfaced a second, separate breach – this one from inside the Special Counsel Office itself, not from a supporting role on the fringe of the operation.
Two documented classified security failures tied to the same team that spent two years prosecuting Donald Trump over classified documents.
Biden DOJ Had One Rule for Hillary Clinton and Another for Donald Trump
Hillary Clinton ran 110 classified emails through an illegal unsecured private server, and FBI Director James Comey called her "extremely careless" – then recommended no charges.
Joe Biden kept classified documents in his garage next to his Corvette and was never charged.
Jack Smith's office left a classified vault open overnight and never told Trump's lawyers or the federal judge presiding over the case – but Jack Smith was absolutely certain Donald Trump needed to face a felony trial.
Grassley named it directly: "While Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden escaped accountability for mishandling highly classified information, Jack Smith and the Biden DOJ set out to paint President Trump as a felon and ruin him politically."
Sources:
- Chuck Grassley, "Biden DOJ Personnel Exposed Classified Materials While Special Counsel Jack Smith Prosecuted Trump, Records Show," Senate Judiciary Committee, July 8, 2026.
- Fred Lucas, "Double Standard of Justice: Grassley Reveals Messages on Jack Smith's Team and Classified Materials," The Daily Signal, July 8, 2026.
- Brianna Lyman, "Docs Suggest Biden DOJ Mishandled Classified Info While Prosecuting Trump for the Same Thing," The Federalist, July 8, 2026.
- Washington Examiner Staff, "DOJ Records Reveal Possible Classified Security Lapses Inside Jack Smith's Office During Trump Prosecution," Washington Examiner, July 8, 2026.
- Just the News Staff, "Jack Smith's Team May Have Exposed Classified Info While Probing Trump for Allegedly Doing the Same," Just the News, July 8, 2026.
- Michael Sinkewicz, "Former DOJ Prosecutor Charged with Stealing Confidential Jack Smith Investigation Documents About Trump," Fox News, May 21, 2026.
- Brianna Lyman, "Prosecutor Whose Office Helped Jack Smith Accuse Trump of Stealing Govt Records Indicted for Stealing Govt Records," The Federalist, May 22, 2026.
- Chuck Grassley, "Newly Declassified DOJ Watchdog Report Shows FBI Cut Corners in Clinton Email Investigation," Senate Judiciary Committee, July 21, 2025.
