Victor Davis Hanson Critiques Jack Smith’s Conduct

Victor Davis Hanson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, remarked on Tuesday that former special counsel Jack Smith may soon face consequences for what he perceives as a history of biased and politically charged actions.

Recent documents reveal that Smith sought phone records spanning nearly two years from FBI Director Kash Patel. In an appearance on “The Ingraham Angle,” Hanson expressed his belief that Smith will have to account for his behavior.

“I think Jack Smith has made his calculations. A merger is coming. He didn’t sit well with Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell,” Hanson told Laura Ingraham. “He received free legal services from his firm without fully reporting it as income. He tracked congressmen and senators, which suggests a lack of neutrality. His family had ties to the Democratic Party, raising questions about his impartiality. There’s a sense he believed he could bounce back from this.”

Smith was previously involved in a 2014 federal corruption case that led to the indictment of then-Republican Governor Bob McDonnell, who was convicted on several charges, including conspiracy and racketeering. However, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned this conviction in June 2016, stating that the definitions of official conduct had been misapplied.

Hanson challenged the notion of Smith as an unbiased prosecutor. “Now the real question is whether he will be held accountable for his actions. He sees himself as a professional prosecutor, much like Fitzgerald and Mueller, yet we don’t delve into their qualifications or impartiality. They were ideologues who twisted the law to serve their political goals,” Hanson stated.

In 2025, the Office of the Special Counsel initiated an ethics inquiry into Smith, assessing whether he breached the Hatch Act by partaking in unauthorized political activity while handling the prosecution of former President Donald Trump. During his tenure as special counsel, Smith admitted in a House Judiciary Committee hearing that he had requested secret subpoenas for phone records and other data from Congress members, even including testimony from witnesses with questionable credibility.

In February, executives from three phone companies testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding their compliance with Smith’s subpoenas. Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T responded to at least 84 requests during the Arctic Frost investigation. Notably, AT&T was the sole company to express concerns about these subpoenas, questioning if a request from Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz could potentially compromise constitutional protections.