According to court records, the lead prosecutor in the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump has a previous citation for unethical behavior in a federal drug case.
As reported by the New York Post, Karen Gilbert, who currently holds a key role on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team, was previously compelled to resign as the head of the narcotics division in the Miami U.S. Attorney’s office in relation to her participation in the illegal wiretapping of a defense attorney in 2009, court documents said.
During the legal proceedings involving Florida family medicine physician Dr. Ali Shaygan, he found himself at odds with Gilbert.
In June 2007, one of Shaygan’s patients, James Brendan Downey, passed away after receiving a methadone prescription. In an attempt to investigate possible witness tampering during the case, Gilbert and her colleague Sean Cronin decided to conduct a wiretap on Shaygan’s lawyer without the necessary approval from the local U.S. Attorney, R. Alexander Acosta.
The unauthorized wiretap yielded no valuable information despite Gilbert’s disregard for ethical practices.
In an interview with the Post, Shaygan, who was ultimately acquitted of all charges, expressed his belief that Gilbert is unsuited to be a federal prosecutor.
“I have no reason to believe that she will behave ethically in any circumstance,” Shaygan said. “I do not find it appropriate for her to still be employed by the Department of Justice. She was a sorry sack of lies.”
Newsmax noted further:
Following the decision in Shaygan’s case, it was described that Gilbert and her team had acted in “bad faith” and with “gross negligence.” As a result, U.S. District Judge Alan Gold ordered the government to pay $601,795 in legal fees to Shaygan.
“The government acknowledges and deeply regrets that it made serious mistakes,” the Justice Department wrote in court papers.
According to records from the Federal Election Commission, Gilbert has also been criticized for her past political donations to Democratic candidates running for federal office. This includes over $2,000 given to the presidential campaigns of former President Barack Obama and current President Joe Biden.
Earlier this week, Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican from Florida, wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting the disclosure of the names of all individuals involved in the classified documents case against Trump.
“It should be obvious that doing due diligence in vetting an office that has apparently done no vetting of its own personnel, or worse, might affirmatively be seeking to staff with sanctioned lawyers and partisan hatchet-men (and women), is an entirely appropriate purpose and one small reason I am requesting this information,” Gaetz said.
