Former Special Counsel Jack Smith, who led investigations into President Trump, is being considered for prosecution for making false statements under oath. Smith assembled a team of government lawyers to investigate Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his alleged mishandling of classified materials. Nothing substantial was ever discovered, and the investigation concluded when Trump won reelection, leading to the termination of these inquiries.
Now, it’s time to bring accountability to those who were part of this circus, and it so happens that Smith helped mightily regarding questions about phone records of members of Congress, which were secretly obtained (via Chuck Grassley):
Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigative team obtained and reviewed text messages from 44 Members of Congress as part of the Biden Department of Justice’s (DOJ) criminal investigation into President Trump. Evidence shows the investigators bypassed a required Filter Team review process, violating investigative protocols and potentially infringing on constitutional guardrails.
The bombshell discovery comes in new records released today by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) as part of their ongoing Arctic Frost oversight. Grassley and Johnson requested the records from DOJ after receiving legally protected whistleblower disclosures.
The Justice Department’s letter to the chairmen and the provided records indicate Smith’s investigative team circumvented its own filter review process, which was established to protect privileged materials from being swept up in a criminal prosecution, and directly accessed the content of texts sent by Republican and Democrat senators and members of the House of Representatives to White House officials during Trump’s first term. Communications from Members of Congress pertaining to their official legislative duties are protected from criminal prosecution under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause. Bypassing a Filter Team evades consideration of additional privileges, such as attorney-client privilege.
[…]
In June 2023, the Special Counsel’s Office (SCO) subpoenaed the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to provide all text messages from October 2020 through January 20, 2021, from phones associated with a long list of personnel serving in the White House during President Trump’s first term, including Trump himself as well as: Mark Meadows, Dan Scavino, Ivanka Trump, Stephen Miller, Peter Navarro, John Ratcliffe, Kash Patel, Rudy Giuliani, Kellyanne Conway and Mike Pence.
NARA provided the texts to SCO on August 21, 2023. Within half an hour, one of Smith’s senior lawyers, Thomas Windom, downloaded the texts and, within one hour, other members of Smith’s investigative team downloaded and began reviewing the texts. It appears the review was done without waiting for the Filter Team to evaluate and segregate privileged information.
When deposed, Mr. Smith gave the impression that he and his investigative team didn’t have access to these records (via Axios):
House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) referred former Special Counsel Jack Smith to the Justice Department on Wednesday, alleging he knowingly made false statements during congressional testimony last year.
Why it matters: The referral escalates House Republicans' efforts to scrutinize the former special counsel who prosecuted President Trump, even though the Justice Department is not required to act on congressional criminal referrals.
Driving the news: "Smith seemingly made willfully and intentionally false statements of material fact that contradict new documents obtained by the Committee from the Department of Justice," Jordan said in a referral to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
"The responses provided by Mr. Smith gave the impression that neither Mr. Smith nor his team had access to the content of members' privileged text messages," said Jordan, referring to members of Congress.
"We now know this to be false," he added.
"This information calls into question the completeness and accuracy of statements that Mr. Smith made under oath to the Committee regarding his team's access to the content of Members' text messages."
It’s now up to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Smith himself even conceded that he could be indicted by the Trump administration after his clown-show investigations were wrapped up.
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