The investigation into former special counsel Jack Smith has led to allegations that he was trying to swing the presidential election of 2024.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said a legal whistleblower revealed that Smith had obtained 4,782 checks from Americans who donated to President Donald Trump and pro-Trump entities between 2019 and 2023, often in small amounts.
‘Every member on this committee ought to be outraged for what happened to their constituents. Which one of my Democratic colleagues will join me in that outrage?’
Grassley directly challenged Smith to address the allegations while he testified before Congress on Tuesday.
“No matter what you say, there’s no legitimate basis for what you did,” said the veteran Republican, according to a transcript in his press release.
“Donations to Republican groups wasn’t necessary to your investigation, which is proved out by the fact it wasn’t mentioned in your public report. Now, the Justice Department and FBI will forever possess thousands of people’s addresses, phone numbers, banks, bank account numbers, bank routing numbers, and copies of their true signatures,” Grassley said.
Republicans on the committee posted an image of some of the checks with the personal information redacted.
“Every member on this committee ought to be outraged for what happened to their constituents. Which one of my Democratic colleagues will join me in that outrage?” Grassley asked.
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas accused Smith of trying to rig the presidential election.
“Jack Smith is a deranged partisan fanatic,” Cotton posted on social media. “He is one of the worst abusers of lawfare in history. He secretly seized GOP lawmakers’ phone records for one reason: to try to swing 2024 and help Democrats win.”
For his part, Smith said he did not remember those particular subpoenas but defended his investigation against claims of political bias.
“Yes, we acquired financial information. As I sit here right now, I cannot recite to you every subpoena we issued,” said Smith. “I can tell you why we issued subpoenas, and it was to conduct a criminal investigation of one of the most serious crimes that’s ever happened in our nation’s history. I had a duty to collect facts.”
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Smith was berated by Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana during his questioning about his collecting toll records of phone calls from members of Congress.
“You make me want to throw up in my mouth!” said Kennedy.
Smith obtained two indictments against the president through his special investigation. One had to do with Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and his alleged unlawful retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
Both were dismissed after Trump was elected in 2024.
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