FACT SHEET: Jack Smith – A Record That Speaks for Itself

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Special Counsel Jack Smith, tapped by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate former President Donald Trump for allegedly wrongfully maintaining classified documents in his residence – a fairly common practice other U.S. Attorneys General have refused to prosecute – has a troubling record of failed, botched, and/or suspect prosecutions against prominent public figures.

HIS RECORD SPEAKS FOR ITSELF:

• From 2010 to 2015, Smith served under Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder, leading the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section. The Obama Administration set in motion Democrats’ Coup against Trump from Day One of his presidency. (Excerpt from Lee Smith’s book, October 2019, “The Plot Against the President: The True Story of How Congressman Devin Nunes Uncovered the Biggest Political Scandal in U.S. History”).
• Among his more notable corruption cases, Smith prosecuted the former governor of Virginia, Robert McDonnell, a Republican. Although Smith scored a conviction against McDonnell, the case was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court 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.” (Politico, 6/27/16). The High Court also rebuked Smith and warned that “the uncontrolled power of criminal prosecutors is a threat to our separation of powers.”
• Smith prosecuted and convicted former Democrat vice presidential nominee John Edwards. “By not losing on any of the six felony counts for which he was being tried, John Edwards won the biggest victory of his political and legal life . . . A mistrial on five counts and an acquittal on one resulted in a clear -- if not complete -- legal vindication and a likely fatal setback for federal prosecutors seeking to convict the former U.S. senator and 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee for allegedly violating the Federal Election Campaign Act.” (U.S. News, June 1, 2012).
• Smith prosecuted Democrat Bob Menendez on public corruption charges. The case ended in a mistrial. “The way this case started was wrong, the way it was investigated was wrong, the way it was prosecuted was wrong, and the way it was tried was wrong as well,” Menendez said outside the courtroom at the time.” (Washington Examiner, 6/5/23).
• Smith prosecuted Arizona congressman Rick Renzi on corruption charges, which the Supreme Court upheld. Renzi was later pardoned by former President Trump. Renzi declared that he had been “wrongly convicted by a Department of Justice that engaged in witness tampering, illegal wiretapping, and gross prosecutorial misconduct.” (Washington Examiner, 6/5/23).

Smith is the Subject of House Investigations for Overzealous Investigations and Prosecutions

• “House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) launched a probe to conduct oversight over Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe into former President Donald Trump for the handling of papers at Mar-a-Lago. In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Jordan requested information about the probe to ensure the investigation is not politicized by the FBI, which suffers from a lack of public trust after improperly involving itself in the 2016 Russia hoax.” (Breitbart, 6/2/23). Prior to the House probe, Jordan asked rhetorically, “guess who was the lead person at the Justice Department looking for ways to target and prosecute the very people looking into who Lois Lerner went after? Jack Smith, the guy Merrick Garland just named as special counsel to go after President Trump.” (Breitbart, 11/21/22).
• Judicial Watch has sued the Biden Justice Department for refusing to reveal names of special counsel Jack Smith’s staff in the investigation against President Trump.