The former New York police commissioner Bernie Kerik, a leading Trump ally who worked with Rudy Giuliani on attempts to overturn the 2020 election, has given the special counsel Jack Smith thousands of documents, Kerik’s lawyer said on Monday.
“I have shared all of these documents, approximately 600MB, mostly pdfs, with the special counsel and look forward to sitting down with them in about two weeks to discuss,” Timothy Parlatore told CNN.
The news was another blow to Donald Trump, who last week caused a sensation when he said Smith had in a letter told him he was a target in the investigation, likely to face criminal charges. Smith and his team have been investigating the former president’s role in the events of the January 6 insurrection.
In early 2020, Trump pardoned Kerik for crimes including tax fraud and lying to investigators, for which Kerik had been sentenced to four years in jail.
Later that year, Kerik worked with Giuliani on attempts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory, a push which culminated in the failed but deadly January 6 attack on Congress.
Kerik long sought to withhold documents from investigators, citing privilege issues. But on Monday, Parlatore said Trump’s 2024 campaign had reviewed the documents and cleared them for release to Smith.
Kerik is set to be interviewed by the special counsel’s office in August.
Trump already faces 71 criminal charges: 34 in New York, over hush money payments to the porn star Stormy Daniels, and 37 in the federal investigation of Trump’s retention of classified records, an investigation also run by Smith.
The former president was also ordered to pay around $5m to the writer E Jean Carroll, after being found liable for sexual abuse and defamation. He faces multiple investigations of his business affairs.
Nonetheless, Trump retains clear leads in polling regarding the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, around 30 points clear of his nearest challenger, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, a little more than a month away from the first debate.
