Grassley-Released Notes Flagged a Mid-March 2023 Meeting With Boasberg.

REPORTING

Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building in Washington, D.C.

Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building. Voice of America. U.S. government work. Reused from the Nellie Ohr preview.

Label this page Reporting. It is not a primary docket. It is not a finding of judicial misconduct.

John Solomon and Jerry Dunleavy, writing at Just the News, said a newly released Justice Department document showed that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team “was set to meet with Judge James Boasberg, also an Obama appointee, in mid-March 2023.” Fox News later reported that Grassley-released briefing notes from a January 13, 2023, session for Attorney General Merrick Garland referenced a forthcoming meeting with Boasberg on March 18, 2023, the day after he became chief judge.

The Federalist (Margot Cleveland’s March 27, 2026, piece) treated the same notes as evidence of private communications and then added commentary about later subpoenas and an August 3, 2023, arraignment appearance. Those extra clauses are commentary. This site does not treat them as a court finding.

What is documented independently: he became chief judge on March 17, 2023. What is reported: notes described a meeting set for about March 18. What is not established on this page: the contents of any conversation, or a finding that the contact was unlawful. A news article is not a primary for a crime or an ethics violation.

Sources

John Solomon and Jerry Dunleavy, Just the News (reporting). justthenews.com

Fox News (reporting). “Jack Smith notes fuel GOP scrutiny over contacts with judges in Trump cases.” foxnews.com

Margot Cleveland, The Federalist, March 27, 2026 (commentary). thefederalist.com

Court bio for the chief-judge date. dcd.uscourts.gov

Opinion

The following is commentary by this site. It is not a finding of fact and not a legal conclusion.

Compiler take

The notes said a meeting was set. The day after he took the chief-judge chair. Smith’s shop. Garland’s briefing. Maybe it was housekeeping. Maybe it was more. The memo is what Grassley put out. The public still does not have a transcript. Do not pretend we do. Do not pretend it looks normal.