Special counsel Jack Smith’s Republican critics appear to have reason to celebrate. The Justice Department has a longstanding policy that says a sitting president can’t be prosecuted, which means that Smith’s cases against Donald Trump will soon effectively evaporate, regardless of merit, seriousness or the overwhelming weight of the evidence.
To the profound disappointment of those hoping to see the president-elect held liable for his many alleged felonies, the end is suddenly in sight. In his latest court filing, Smith asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to “vacate the remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance.” The jurist quickly granted the request, pausing the process and giving prosecutors time to wind down their cases.
At that point, Smith and his team will no longer be of interest to Republicans, right? In theory, that might seem true. In practice, however, there’s fresh evidence to the contrary. Two key House GOP committee chairs have issued a new press release that begins:
Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), Chairman of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, sent a letter to Special Counsel Jack Smith demanding his office preserve all records surrounding the Biden-Harris Administration’s politicized prosecutions of President Donald Trump.
According to the letter sent to the special counsel, the far-right congressmen expressed concern that, in light of Trump’s “decisive victory,” Smith and his office “may attempt to purge relevant records, communications, and documents.”
The effort coincides with a tweet from conspiratorial billionaire Elon Musk, who amplified the Jordan-Loudermilk correspondence, adding, “Jack Smith’s abuse of the justice system cannot go unpunished.”
To the extent that reality still has any meaning, there is literally zero evidence the Biden administration “politicized prosecutions”; there is literally zero evidence to suggest Smith abused the system; and there’s no reason whatsoever to think the special counsel’s office might try to “purge” anything.
But the partisan investigation into the investigation will apparently continue anyway.
If that sounds at all familiar, it’s not your imagination. As regular readers might recall, the Republicans’ “investigate the investigation” tactic is used so often that it’s something of a running joke.
The GOP found the investigation into Trump’s Russia scandal to be bothersome, so Republicans investigated the investigation. The party didn’t care that Hillary Clinton was cleared in her email controversy, so Republicans endorsed investigating the investigation. Much of the party opposed the bipartisan examination of the Jan. 6 attack, so Republicans investigated the investigation. Why stop there? Jordan and his cohorts were outraged by Trump’s indictment in New York, so they launched an investigation into the investigation. GOP officials expressed concerns about Hunter Biden’s case, so the party investigated the investigation. When Trump was indicted in Georgia, Jordan — let’s all say it together — kicked off an investigation into the investigation. At least Smith has plenty of good company. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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