Former Special Counsel Jack Smith was yanked onto the Hill, where he was grilled by Republican senators over his investigations into Donald Trump and conservative America writ large via Arctic Frost. During this probe, which seems to have gone off the rails, Smith’s team even obtained the cell phone data of Republican members of Congress and sought donor and personal information from 160 Republican figures and some 400 conservative organizations. It wasn’t about Trump — it was a witch hunt against all political rivals of the Democrat Party. They also seized Trump’s cell phone.
Sen. Grassley says Jack Smith obtained communications from 18 media outlets, the Media Research Center among them. Everyone on that list should want answers.
— Media Research Center (@theMRC) September 29, 2026
We do. pic.twitter.com/sVto9VBL2b
.@ChuckGrassley calls out Jack Smith for weaponizing the DOJ against Republicans:
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 29, 2026
“Mr. Smith subpoenaed and obtained information on Republican groups as early as 2019 and as late as 2023…they were aware of constitutional speech and debate clause concerns.” pic.twitter.com/nxJ9tANdaD
.@ChuckGrassley TORCHES Jack Smith for targeting Republican voters:
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 29, 2026
“You obtained at least 4,782 donor checks. Many of those checks were $5-$10…It included 42 checks from Iowans who dared to donate money to Republicans…there is no legitimate basis for what you did.” pic.twitter.com/qmH9is6ssy
Reminder that in January Jack Smith testified that he never received the content of calls or messages.
— MAZE (@mazemoore) September 29, 2026
Today Jack Smith has already admitted to receiving the content of calls and messages.
Smith lied under oath. pic.twitter.com/AfnuXKrkDt
🚨@SenTedCruz presses former Special Counsel Jack Smith over subpoenas targeting Republican individuals and organizations.
— Off The Press (@OffThePress1) September 29, 2026
Cruz: “Is it a crime to be a Republican?” pic.twitter.com/bHOHyadubw
.@SenTedCruz to Jack Smith “Is it crime to be a Republican?”
— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) September 29, 2026
Smith refused direct yes or no answers to Cruz's line of questioning about subpoenas for GOP records
Cruz: Smith subpoenaed over 20% Senate Republicans
Cruz: Smith's Special Counsel probe “massive fishing expedition…
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) ripped into Smith over the donor-information subpoenas, while Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) asked a pointed question about how Smith was ever selected for this job in the first place. It made Smith visibly uncomfortable:
This may be the most uncomfortable moment in the entire Jack Smith hearing.
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) September 29, 2026
It's when Sen. Kennedy confronted him about an accusation that Smith had actually asked Garland for the job of Special Counsel.
Hoo boy. Watch Smith squirm as he tries to answer the question.
KENNEDY:… pic.twitter.com/DZeedFvU1O
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) HITS Special Counsel Jack Smith with a ZINGER after GRILLING him: “But you’re unbiased, you have no personal feelings. You make me want to throw up in my mouth.”
— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) September 29, 2026
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL): “Mr. Chairman. I’d like to say a word. This hearing is of… pic.twitter.com/EZv3lDpQfh
KENNEDY: You asked General Garland to appoint you special counsel, didn't you?
SMITH (looks down and scribbles): I don't think that's accurate. He made the decision to appoint me.
KENNEDY: In fact, you had people call General Garland to lobby him to appoint you, didn't you?
SMITH (looks down and scribbles some more): I don't recall anything like that.
KENNEDY: You really wanted to be special counsel, didn't you?
SMITH: I accepted the position as special counsel because I had spent 30 years as a nonpartisan prosecutor. I had investigated every sort of criminal case you could possibly imagine, and I thought I was qualified to do the job.
I knew that I would do it independently, and I would conduct it the same way whether it were Republican or a Democrat.
That’s a crock of s**t, and Kennedy knew it too.
“But you’re unbiased; you have no personal feelings. You make me want to throw up in my mouth,” he added before Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) took umbrage that his colleague was berating his failed political hitman.
Here are Grassley’s opening remarks in full, where we learned journalists' information was also obatined by Smith:
Good morning. Mr. Smith, thank you for your attendance.
This hearing will highlight the committee’s investigation into the Special Counsel’s political work and weaponized conduct.
Today, the Special Counsel’s own records, and those of his staff, will tell the tale.
The Ranking Member has repeatedly pushed to have this hearing much earlier. And he’ll probably mention it today. But if we had followed that misguided and dangerous demand, we wouldn’t have had most of the necessary records needed to show how Jack Smith’s corrupt operation undermined the rule of law and threatened our very political institutions.
Of course, that was the strategy of the Democrats – call a premature hearing so all we had were Smith’s account that would bury the story. That’s exactly the wrong way to do this and it would’ve broken faith with the American people Jack Smith has wronged.
Let us begin with Operation Rampart Twelve.
That operation was a preliminary investigation opened into some Members of the House.
Rampart Twelve appears to be a predecessor case to Arctic Frost and was opened in January 2021.
The investigation was based on allegations that Members led reconnaissance tours in advance of January 6.
But the available records show the evidence didn’t exist, and the government knew it.
Even so, J.P. Cooney personally concurred with opening the investigation, even though his text messages with a colleague questioned predication.
Cooney became Jack Smith’s deputy and wanted to, in his own words, “prosecute any nun who still wears a head habit.”
Cooney, along with anti-Trump FBI agent Thibault, kept Rampart Twelve active a full year after it was improperly opened.
Rampart Twelve shows how partisan agents and prosecutors lacked evidence but still tried to fix a case against Republicans.
Now, let’s look at The Willard inquiry.
In January 2022, before Arctic Frost was formally opened, Thibault and FBI Special Agent in Charge Wayne Jacobs tried to create a case.
Notably, documents show FBI Agent Jacobs was recused from Arctic Frost. That may relate to his wife being a J6 committee staffer. Months after recusal, documents show he was still involved, which would violate his recusal requirements.
According to Thibault, at the time “SSA Leanna Saler has been in regular contact with Thomas [Windom] with the goal of opening a case file to allow us to accomplish many of the investigative activities” they wanted.
He’s referring to the desire to open a case on Republicans who stayed at The Willard around January 6. Windom became a senior staffer for Jack Smith and later pled the Fifth to most questions about his work.
Thibault said the discredited Washington Field Office “is hard at work attempting to predicate a Preliminary Investigation.”
Yet again, partisan agents and prosecutors admitted they lacked evidence but continued anyway.
DOJ prosecutors John Crabb and Windom sought and obtained invasive hotel booking information which scooped up customer data about many innocent parties.
But, before we had Jack Smith, there was Arctic Frost.
FBI Agent Thibault and DOJ prosecutors Windom and Crabb were instrumental in opening Arctic Frost.
And Thibault’s conduct violated the FBI’s so-called No Self-Approval Rule.
Thibault violated that rule when he advanced Arctic Frost but used subordinate staff as cut-outs to approve his own case.
Thibault also violated the Hatch Act for his anti-Trump political conduct on the taxpayers’ dime.
Thibault also emailed naked photos of his girlfriend using an FBI government email account. Not the type of guy you want to justify opening a case.
Thibault also worked closely with FBI Agent Walter Giardina.
Giardina reportedly filed a false FISA on Walid Phares, which, if true, is a criminal act.
Giardina was one of Jack Smith’s financial experts, analyzing subpoena returns from hundreds of Republican groups. The perfect man to put the fix in and map out the Republican apparatus – which is exactly what happened.
And as you’ll see today, the Smith election case ultimately wasn’t just about Trump. It was about partisan agents and prosecutors mapping out the Republican apparatus.
That scope – looking at the apparatus – was what J.P. Cooney briefed to Deputy Attorney General Monaco. He and Smith used J6 as the pretext to go way beyond J6.
Now, Thibault and his crew wanted Trump from the get-go, which Jack Smith ultimately did for them.
In February 2022, Thibault said Trump should be included as a subject in Arctic Frost.Then, Trump was removed [from the case]. But in March 2022, Thibault emailed, “We are removing the former [meaning Trump] as a predicated subject. However, this document provides a sort of roadmap.”
Thibault set the stage for Jack Smith to take the lead.
And, Thibault’s draft case opening used liberal media outlets as sources.
But, the version sent to then-Attorney General Garland had those liberal mentions removed.
Of course, Garland turned a blind eye to Arctic Frost’s political origins.
Arctic Frost was formally approved in April 2022.
Thus, the foundation Jack Smith took over in November 2022 was built by partisan agents and prosecutors, many of whom staffed Smith.
And Jack Smith took partisanship to a new level.
Before Jack Smith, the government sought toll records from at least four Members of Congress.
Jack Smith sought the toll records of 16 Members of Congress and also obtained the content of Member communications, breaching Speech or Debate.
Smith’s subpoenas targeted hundreds of Republican groups and individuals.
He subpoenaed communications those folks had with the media and legislative branch.
He also subpoenaed 87 Trump White House phones, knowing they’d include communications with Members of Congress – 44 Members, to be exact. He failed to filter out Speech or Debate privileged information, even though he and his team knew they’d scoop it up with their requests.
What I can say today is that Smith also obtained communications from members of the media, to include: 60 Minutes, Associated Press, Bloomberg, CBS, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, LA Times, Mark Levin Show, Media Research Center, NBC, NPR, NY Magazine, Reuters, The Federalist, The Washington Post, Washington Times and the Wall Street Journal.
What will the partisan media say about this disgraceful government overreach?
This wasn’t a normal prosecution by any means, yet today, you’ll absurdly hear from Democrats that it was.
Importantly, Jack Smith has claimed his focus was on January 6.
But his own conduct contradicts that assertion. When his team subpoenaed records, sometimes the date ranges extended weeks, months or years before and after January 6.
Indeed, in some examples, Jack Smith subpoenaed and obtained information on Republican groups as early as 2019 and as late as 2023.
You see, that’s what you must do if your case is designed to map out and target the entire Republican Party.
Messages obtained between Jack Smith’s senior officials also expose how they were aware of Speech or Debate concerns and targeting congressional toll records.
In these messages, his future staff discuss how they can circumvent the statutory barriers Congress put in place to obtain congressional toll records.
Then, in 2023, Cooney, Gaston, Windom and Ray Hulser were given warnings that subpoenaing congressional information could violate the Speech or Debate clause. They were warned that legislators may intervene and oppose that subpoena process.
They didn’t care then, or when they obtained the content of messages from 44 Members, including this senator.
In fact, Smith’s deputy, J.P. Cooney, said this about the Speech or Debate clause: “I’m an advocate for repealing the clause.”
In effect, he and Smith did exactly that. This wasn’t a normal prosecution.
Accordingly, Jack Smith’s secretive efforts obtained Member toll records and, ultimately, content.
Then, he sought Non-Disclosure Orders to hide his effort from Members, while also apparently failing to apprise the court of the targets.
Judge Boasberg and Howell also didn’t bother to raise any questions, and instead complicitly rubber stamped this political charade.
Judge Howell, who was a former Democrat Deputy Staff Director of this very committee, even met privately with the partisan prosecution to help them map out strategy.
Then Smith appeared before the House and gave dishonest testimony.
Indeed, the FBI, at Smith’s request, also issued preservation letters to Apple against Members of Congress.
Those letters sought the preservation of a range of content, not just tolling data.
It’s worth noting that Cooney and Ray Hulser killed an investigation into the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Campaign. So, on the one hand, they covered up for Democrats, but on the other hand, went full scope on Republicans. Another example of Smith’s partisan operation.
Now, because of Jack Smith, the Department of Justice and FBI have reams of very personal information on thousands of Republicans.
Once the Department of Justice and FBI obtain these records, they’ll never delete them.
The exception, of course, is Hillary Clinton. In that case, the Comey FBI agreed to destroy information on her behalf, including laptops associated with her staff. Just another outrageous double standard.
In the end, Smith indicted one person – President Trump – but successfully mapped out the Republican apparatus. A fact he didn’t put in his report.
I’ll have more to show the public later today.
Now, Jack Smith prosecuted Trump for allegedly mishandling classified records.
While doing so, his team left a classified facility open, causing a security violation, while prosecuting Trump for effectively the same offense.
On at least one occasion, J.P. Cooney asked that the door to a classified facility remain unlocked.
Talk about hypocrisy! As they throw the book at Trump, the prosecutors are playing fast and loose with the rules.
In July 2022, days before the raid at Mar-a-Lago, FBI officials raised strong concerns about a lack of probable cause and overzealous prosecutors.
Moreover, in February 2022, emails show that the FBI was actually going to treat Mar-a-Lago as a spillage, not a criminal investigation.
And, Jack Smith represented to court that the National Archives didn’t substantively help the case, in response to the Trump team arguing they did.
These representations to the court were false. Records from the Archives show Gary Stern, the Archives General Counsel, substantively assisted.
Smith said he and his staff’s responsibility “is to do the right thing, the right way for the right reasons.”
Jack Smith’s operation was a partisan weapon that broke the rules, lied to the court and engaged in bad faith throughout. His operation has no credibility – only to the partisan media and Democrats who cheered him on, just as they will today.
Smith was investigating Trump over mishandling of classified materials and alleged actions relating to possibly overturning the 2020 election. With unlimited resources, he found nothing.
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