Tipsheet

Jack Smith's Long History of Failed Prosecution Cases Against Republicans

After news broke late Thursday night that corrupt Special Counsel Jack Smith was gearing up to bring additional charges against former President Trump, the 45th president insisted Smith was weaponizing the Justice Department. 

Calling it “harassment,” Trump responded to Smith’s decision to bring more charges against him in the indictment over his possession of classified documents, despite President Joe Biden facing almost no repercussions for doing the same thing. 

“It’s not a criminal case,” Trump began. “Where’s Biden with all the documents? He’s got 20 times, 30 times the documents I have, and he has not made it easy for them either. He has been hiding boxes. They’re sending boxes to Chinatown. Boxes are being sent to Chinatown, yet China is paying them millions of dollars. You explain that one. You don’t even hear about it. All you hear about is Trump.” 

The former president condemned the two-tiered justice system, calling it an “injustice” and saying that the U.S. is a failing nation under the leadership of the Democratic Party. 

Trump vowed to fire Smith should he be elected in 2024, noting his troubling record of failed and suspected prosecutions against prominent public figures. 

Among his most notable corruption cases, Smith – who was tapped by equally evil Attorney General Merrick Garland – was overturned unanimously in the Supreme Court. 

Smith prosecuted the former Republican governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell. The U.S. Supreme Court later overturned the case in a unanimous 8-0 decision. The Court observed that “there is no doubt that this case is distasteful; it may be worse than that. But our concern is not with tawdry tales of Ferraris, Rolexes, and ball gowns. It is instead with the broader legal implications of the Government’s boundless interpretation of the federal bribery statute.” 

The Supreme Court also rebuked Smith and warned that “the uncontrolled power of criminal prosecutors is a threat to our separation of powers.”

Smith also prosecuted Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi – a Republican – on corruption charges, which the Supreme Court upheld. Trump later pardoned Renzi. The Republican claimed he had been “wrongly convicted by a Department of Justice that engaged in witness tampering, illegal wiretapping, and gross prosecutorial misconduct.” 

“He’s destroyed a lot of lives. Lives have been destroyed. He’s destroyed people—he’s destroyed lives,” Trump said of Smith. "He was Lois Lerner and the IRS case, which was one of the most egregious abuses what happened. The government had to apologize to people."

Trump condemned Smith for going after Christians and Republicans, calling him “deranged.” He said the special counsel had abused his power and that history would look upon this moment, saying it would be remembered as an “embarrassment” for the entire nation.