Jack Smith Defends Trump Charges in Senate Hearing
The Spin
Republican narrative
Jack Smith made the Watergate scandal seem almost tame, turning the DOJ into a political weapon against Trump and 4,782 Americans whose common link was donating to Republicans. His team secretly subpoenaed lawmakers' phone records, issued Apple preservation orders covering all devices on an account and kept a judge in the dark about targets. Under oath, Smith could not recall key requests, leaving a massive Fourth Amendment abuse unanswered.
Democratic narrative
Republicans tried to turn Jack Smith's testimony into a prosecution of the prosecutor, but Smith stayed composed and stood firmly behind his investigation. Ted Cruz's attack on subpoenas for lawmakers' phone records went nowhere, while Eric Schmitt's perjury accusation over a basketball game appeared to collapse over confusion between the Hawks and Hawkeyes. The attacks failed to land, exposing a hearing more focused on smearing Smith than confronting Trump's conduct.
