JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt on Tuesday signed onto a brief that backs former President Donald Trump in his ongoing legal dispute with the Department of Justice over classified documents seized by the FBI at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Schmitt’s decision to involve Missouri in the court fight between the former president and DOJ is the latest example of the Republican attorney general diving into cases that appeal to the conservative base as he mounts a campaign for U.S. Senate.
“We were proud to join this brief, and the arguments in the brief speak for themselves,†Schmitt spokesperson Chris Nuelle said in a statement.
The brief was led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office, which previously spearheaded a failed effort to overturn the 2020 election that Schmitt supported. Missouri was one of 11 states to sign onto the document.
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Asked if Missouri resources or taxpayer money were being used in the case, Nuelle said, “Joining amicus briefs is one of many official activities the salaried employees in the Attorney General’s Office undertake for the people of Missouri.â€
The brief from the Republican attorneys general argues that the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should deny the U.S. Justice Department’s appeal that seeks to resume the criminal investigation of roughly 100 classified documents seized at Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago last month.
The brief included a laundry list of conservative talking points ranging from — theories about origins of COVID-19 to criticism of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies — as reasons for why the court should distrust the administration and allow a special master to review all 11,000 documents seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.
“At a minimum, this Court should view the Administration’s assertions of good-faith, neutrality, and objectivity through jaundiced eyes,†said the brief, which was filed by Paxton and signed by Schmitt along with attorneys general from Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia.
Missouri Democratic Senate nominee Trudy Busch Valentine’s campaign declined to comment on Schmitt’s decision to involve the state in the Trump dispute, but the move drew swift criticism from Democratic state legislators.
State Rep. Ian Mackey, a ºüÀêÊÓƵ Democrat, said the brief was an example of Schmitt prioritizing politics over the people of Missouri. He said voters also should be concerned that Schmitt was putting politics over his job as attorney general.
“Of course it’s politically motivated,†he said. “Am I surprised that the fascist attorney general that helped fund the insurrection through the Republican Attorneys General Association would be taking Donald Trump’s side on this issue? Of course not.â€
Mackey was referring to reports that the Rule of Law Defense Fund, a wing of the national Republican Attorneys General Association, sent robocalls encouraging Trump supporters to March on the U.S. Capitol the day before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in 2021. Schmitt briefly served as the interim head of RAGA in the spring of 2021 after Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr stepped down from the post in the aftermath of the controversy.
“He’s not the suburban ºüÀêÊÓƵ lawyer he used to be. He’s not a fair and impartial attorney general. He’s fully on board 1,000% with the insurrection,†Mackey said.
House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Springfield Democrat, said in a statement that the brief illustrated a new low for the Republican attorney general.
“Eric Schmitt has a well-established record for wasting Missouri taxpayer dollars on politically motivated lawsuits he hopes will benefit his Senate campaign,†the statement said. “But using his office to defend a man who apparently stole classified documents and endangered our nation’s security is low even for him.â€
State Sen. Denny Hoskins, a Warrensburg Republican, said he supported Schmitt’s decision to sign onto the brief. He pushed back on criticism that Schmitt was using his office for political gain.
“The attorney general, I believe, is doing what the vast majority of Missourians want him to do and that’s to stick up for our freedoms and individual rights and so I don’t believe the attorney general is using this for publicity,†he said.
On Tuesday, in his first public hearing, special master Judge Raymond Dearie questioned Trump’s lawyers about whether they had evidence to show Trump declassified the records, according to Reuters. The FBI’s search largely focused on documents marked as classified that the former president took home to Mar-a-Lago.
A lower district court previously barred the use of the documents in question in the federal government’s criminal probe. Trump and his legal team have argued that the documents should not be assumed classified.
Schmitt was one of several prominent Republicans to express outrage and call for retaliation against the FBI and the Department of Justice following the search of Trump’s home last month. Schmitt promised to take a “wrecking ball†to the DOJ if elected to the Senate.
Schmitt has made overt appeals to Trump throughout the Senate campaign. The former president hedged his endorsement in last month’s Republican primary for U.S. Senate and pledged his support to “ERIC†on the eve of the election without specifying whether he meant Schmitt or former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.
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