More than 10 months after then-special counsel Jack Smith grudgingly stepped down — the 2024 election results derailed his criminal cases against Donald Trump — the prosecutor remains a popular target for Republicans’ ire.
The president continues to peddle baseless attacks against the former special counsel; the Trump administration continues to push out officials who worked with Smith; and assorted Republican voices continue to go after Smith with unhinged and easily discredited conspiracy theories.
As for developments on Capitol Hill, GOP lawmakers remain eager to treat Smith like a punching bag. Rep. Michael Rulli of Ohio this week baselessly accused the prosecutor of acts that he said bordered on “treason”; Sen. Marsha Blackburn referred Smith to the Justice Department for a misconduct investigation, based on misguided allegations the Tennessee Republican did not appear to understand; and several GOP members have even pushed for Smith’s disbarment.
To date, no Republican official has produced any evidence of Smith doing anything wrong. The party’s hysterics continue anyway.
Most recently, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan sent a letter to the former special counsel last week to demand his closed-door testimony. This week, Smith said he’s ready to respond to GOP questions — but he wants the public to see his answers. The New York Times reported:
Jack Smith, the former special counsel who twice indicted Trump, is asking for a public hearing following a summons from House Republicans to testify about his investigations. Smith’s lawyers — citing ‘many mischaracterizations’ made about his work — want to avoid a closed-door interview.
The Times’ report, which has been independently verified by MSNBC, added that Republicans on Capitol Hill “have privately been wary about having him appear in public, concerned he will undercut the president’s claims of innocence.”
Those concerns, of course, give away the game.
As we’ve discussed, Smith is an experienced, credible and capable prosecutor, who’s familiar with Trump’s criminal cases at a granular level. The more Republicans drag him back into the spotlight, the more Smith will be positioned to remind the public not only of the variety of alleged presidential felonies, but also of evidence the party would probably prefer to forget.
In other words, Jordan and his GOP colleagues sounded last week like they were going on the offensive against Smith, but now it’s Smith who’s calling their bluff. He’s not the one who needs to worry; they are. “You want to talk?” the former special counsel effectively said. “Great. I have quite a bit to say. Let’s have a public conversation.” Republicans have not yet said whether they’ll allow the transparency Smith clearly wants, although for the record, there’s no reason this Q&A would have to be held behind closed doors. Watch this space. 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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