'Implausible if not ludicrous': Jack Smith slaps Trump body man lawyer with testy response

Special counsel Jack Smith's testy slap-back to an attorney for Donald Trump's body man was unsealed Wednesday by the Florida federal judge overseeing the former president's classified documents case.

Smith's newly published report responds to Trump-funded attorney Stanley Woodward, who claimed last year he was threatened by Jay Bratt, the Justice Department’s chief of counterintelligence, during a meeting to discuss his client Walt Nauta in 2022.

"The allegations told an implausible, if not ludicrous tale," Smith replies, "in which a career prosecutor who had served the Department with distinction for more than 30 years concocted a plan to threaten an attorney."

Woodward reportedly complained Bratt told him, "Unless his client agreed to cooperate, the prosecutor would contact the White House and attempt to scuttle the attorney's nomination to D.C.Superior Court."

As Woodward described it, Bratt allegedly said, "I wouldn't want you to do anything to mess that up."

In his reply, Smith noted the alleged threat would represent a violation of Department policy as soon as contact with the White House was made.

Smith also included a snippet of Woodward's complaint — filed under seal when the Guardian first reported its claims last June — that show Nauta's defense attorney was infuriated by Bratt's argument as to why his client should cooperate with the prosecution.

"Mr. Bratt also advised that the government's case against Mr. Nauta was strong," Woodward wrote, "referencing his belief that one way or another Mr. Nauta would be giving up a lifestyle of private planes and private golf courses."

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In his report, Smith notes the conversation in question took place in August 2022, about nine months before Woodward raised any complaints about alleged prosecutorial misconduct.

"Woodward — who had dealt with several prosecutors from the Special Counsel's Office during that span — never raised any allegation, concern, or complaint about that meeting," Smith writes.

"The Government had never seen or heard of any complaints about the August 2022 meeting until Trump filed the Disclosure Motion in June 2023."

A 2023 NBC report on Woodward's claim notes it was "consistent with a strategy by Trump’s legal team to raise questions about prosecutorial tactics."

The report also states Trump took to Truth Social to complain prosecutors tried to “bribe & intimidate” Woodward by offering an “important judgeship” in the Biden administration if his client “flips” on Trump.

"That does not match how the source described Woodward’s allegations," the report noted.