photo #9298378

Jack Smith’s investigation was not normal law enforcement. It was one of the most dangerous examples of federal power being turned against a president’s political opponent in modern American history.In my view, this was a political witch hunt built around disputed legal theories, not a neutral effort to punish crimes already proven in court. Smith’s cases followed President Trump through the 2024 campaign, placing the weight of the Biden Justice Department behind an effort to brand the leading Republican candidate a criminal. Smith insists the evidence justified prosecution, but an indictment is an accusation, not a conviction. The cases were abandoned after Trump returned to office because Justice Department policy bars prosecuting a sitting president.Now we are learning how far Smith’s operation reached.The Justice Department says Smith’s team obtained text messages from government phones used by Trump officials and advisers, including communications involving 44 members of Congress, 40 Republicans and four Democrats. Records released by Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson indicate investigators apparently bypassed the filter team created to screen potentially privileged material and began reviewing the texts shortly after receiving them from the National Archives.This was not a live wiretap. The allegation is that Smith’s team secretly accessed stored message content that may have included protected congressional communications.Smith later told Congress, “My office didn’t spy on anyone.” In his earlier deposition, he also testified that toll-record subpoenas involving lawmakers did not include the content of calls or text messages. The newly released material concerns a separate National Archives production, so proving perjury would require establishing what Smith knew and whether his answers were intentionally false.That is exactly why the Justice Department should open a criminal investigation. If Smith knowingly misled Congress, he should be prosecuted like anyone else.Biden did not pardon Smith, contrary to some online claims. Even so, Washington protects its own, so expect hearings, speeches and outrage, followed by nothing.Was Jack Smith protecting the rule of law, or weaponizing it against the man Democrats feared most?