Former special counsel Jack Smith found himself in the spotlight again during Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation hearing on Wednesday. Senator John Kennedy pressed the Justice Department about new allegations concerning Smith’s examination of text messages from members of Congress during the Biden administration.
“Could you check on this first? [Smith] read my email… part 2, how he got it. And what emails did you receive from Senator Grassley? I mean… what were those emails about?” Kennedy raised questions, connecting this to Smith’s previous investigation regarding President Donald Trump, which reportedly led to the deletion of text messages from 44 Congress members.
“Did Mr. Smith see an email from Senator Grassley discussing topics like the corn harvest? And was it shared with anyone else? Do you know if Mr. Smith passed my email to Attorney General Garland?” Kennedy continued.
He specifically referenced records released by Grassley, showing that Smith’s team reviewed messages involving 44 current and former members of Congress amid the Trump election investigation. Interestingly, Kennedy himself was not on the list released by Grassley.
Grassley alleged that the FBI investigation, referred to as Operation Arctic Frost, looked into a purported scheme following the 2020 election. He, along with other GOP members, is investigating whether the federal inquiry constituted an improper use of power against Trump and his associates.
During the hearing, Blanche confirmed to Kennedy that the Justice Department was indeed looking into this matter.
Kennedy pressed Blanche on how Justice Department officials obtained messages without a solid justification. Blanche responded that existing safeguards make it quite challenging for prosecutors to access and analyze emails belonging to senators, congress members, or others with privileged communications.
Grassley’s office remarked that Smith’s team bypassed an internal review meant to protect privileged information from criminal investigations. The release noted that circumventing this process dismisses consideration of additional privileges like the attorney-client privilege.
The documents originated from a comprehensive inquiry by the Trump Justice Department into Operation Arctic Frost.
Senator Eric Schmidt of Missouri weighed in as well, arguing that the Trump administration’s Justice Department was the “most troubled” in history, while labeling the Biden Justice Department’s actions as weaponized.
“We’ve been living through the Jack Smith era, and now the chairman has unveiled new information that he was, in fact, reading the text messages,” Schmidt stated. “Smith testified under oath that he didn’t do that, that he only had phone records. It’s clear that’s not true.”
He concluded by stating, “At this point, Jack Smith should face indictment for lying to Congress. We need to distinguish between this and weaponization. Targeting a political opponent is weaponization.”
