Attorney General Andrew Bailey of Missouri is suing the Biden administration for failing to comply with his request for information regarding the criminal prosecutions of former President Donald Trump.
Bailey announced on July 7 that he was taking action after the federal government did not respond to his request for all the communication between the Department of Justice and the state-level prosecutors currently leading cases against the former president — New York Attorney General Leticia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. The Missouri AG said he took action after evidence indicated “that the DOJ is the breeding ground of the unconstitutional lawfare aimed at President Trump.”
“Missourians - and all Americans - deserve to know to what extent the prosecutions of a prominent presidential candidate are being coordinated by the federal government, which is currently run by President Trump’s principal political opponent,” said Bailey on X.
Bailey launched a probe into the connection between the multiple prosecutions of Trump and the Department of Justice in May. He filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain documents detailing the activity and communication between the DAs, James, Special Prosecutor Jack Smith and the DOJ.
Bailey alleged that "the investigations and subsequent prosecutions of former President Donald J. Trump appear to have been conducted in coordination with the United States Department of Justice.”
He noted that Bragg vowed during his election campaign to go after Trump and that the New York DA only charged the former president after the Republican announced his latest reelection campaign. Bailey also cited a post from the Biden-Harris campaign celebrating that the April New York trial had kept Trump from traveling. The Missouri AG had argued that “there is substantial reason to suspect the Biden administration has coordinated with Bragg and others to bring prosecutions against Trump,” per Fox News.
“Biden’s DOJ owes it to the American people to produce the documents we have demanded,” Bailey said when announcing his new lawsuit.
Bailey has taken action against a number of progressive organizations over the last two years. In February, he sued Planned Parenthood – stating that evidence indicates the organization had trafficked minors out of state to get abortions. He also opened an investigation into Media Matters. Bailey said there was reason to believe the watchdog organization “used fraud to solicit donations” to “bully” advertisers into pulling their content from X.
In late June, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri upheld Bailey’s lawsuit challenging Biden’s most recent college loan forgiveness plan. The AG contends Biden overstepped his authority by authorizing the program without the consent of Congress.
"The Constitution makes clear that Joe Biden does not get to thwart Congress when it suits his political agenda. The Constitution will continue to mean something as long as I'm Attorney General," Bailey told Fox Business.
Bailey also released documents indicating the Biden administration was in direct contact with social media executives and discussed the suppression of certain content. In one email, White House Digital Director Rob Flaherty told a Facebook employee that the federal government was “particularly interested in your demotion efforts” for vaccine topics.
“Not to sound like a broken record, but how much content is being demoted, and how effective are you at mitigating reach, and how quickly?” Flaherty wrote. “As I’ve said, I don’t think our position is that you should remove vaccine hesitant stuff. However, slowing it down seems reasonable.”
Bailey first took office in January of 2023. The army veteran previously served as Deputy Counsel and then General Counsel for the Missouri Governor’s office as well as General Counsel for the Missouri Department of Corrections.
