Jack Smith's Defense As an Unbiased Prosecutor Got Obliterated by Josh Hawley

I get why Jack Smith had to say this — there’s nothing else he can do. But we all know it’s garbage. Smith was appointed special counsel to investigate Donald Trump for mishandling classified information and for whether he interfered and might have tried to overturn the 2020 election. It was staffed with some of the most anti-Trump attorneys in the DC orbit. They had unlimited resources, and they couldn’t find anything actionable because there was nothing there. When Trump won the 2024 election, this circus was going bye-bye, and it did. We won. 

Now, Smith is being hauled back onto the Hill to answer for Arctic Frost, a sweeping probe that seemed to have subpoenaed every conservative organization in the country, along with 160 Republican officials. Personal and donor information was requested, cell phone data from sitting members of Congress was harvested, and Smith’s goons seized Trump’s phone. Still, he maintained that he was Mr. Nonpartisan, which didn’t sit well with Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who ripped into Smith, claiming that the narrative he put forward today was nothing more than raw comedic material:

Senator Josh Hawley just came out swinging at former special counsel Jack Smith.

Hawley blew up Smith’s entire narrative of being a nonpartisan actor, calling that premise “hilarious.”

HAWLEY: “Your investigation was all about politics from day one.”

“Your investigation,… pic.twitter.com/b1Z4RPdZmz

— Overton (@overton_news) September 29, 2026

Your investigation was all about politics from day one. Your investigation, so-called, your prosecution, so-called, was nothing other than an attempt to interfere politically in a presidential election in the United States of America.

You twice indicted a presidential candidate, the leading presidential candidate and a former president of the United States, during a presidential election against all Justice Department policy, against all Justice Department history.

Something never before seen or contemplated in 250 years of this country’s history.

You did it anyway all for the purpose of keeping Donald Trump off the ballot.

All for the purpose of denying the voters an opportunity to vote on the former president of the United States, and at the time, the Republican nominee for president.

.@HawleyMO RIPS into Jack Smith:

"Not only did you not notify any member of Congress whose text message you obtained...you told the House two full years later...you told them you'd never gotten messages...that was a lie Mr. Smith ...you knew exactly what you were being asked." pic.twitter.com/oieWKxCfMD

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 29, 2026

Talk about being skinned alive, right? Hawley isn’t the only one. When it became clear Smith was getting desperate, he violated the cardinal rule for federal prosecutors: if a legal filing could affect an election, keep it in your pocket. He didn’t do that with his October 2024 filing, a Hail Mary of sorts to some prosecutorial train going. CNN’s top legal analyst Elie Honig torched Smith over this move:

Smith has essentially abandoned any pretense; he’ll bend any rule, switch up on any practice — so long as he gets to chip away at Trump’s electoral prospects. At this point, there’s simply no defending Smith’s conduct on any sort of principled or institutional basis. “But we need to know this stuff before we vote!” is a nice bumper sticker, but it’s neither a response to nor an excuse for Smith’s unprincipled, norm-breaking practice. (It also overlooks the fact that the Justice Department bears responsibility for taking over two and a half years to indict in the first place.) 

Let’s go through the problems with what Smith has done here. 

First, this is backward. The way motions work — under the federal rules, and consistent with common sense — is that the prosecutor files an indictment; the defense makes motions (to dismiss charges, to suppress evidence, or what have you); and then the prosecution responds to those motions. Makes sense, right? It’s worked for hundreds of years in our courts. 

Not here. Not when there’s an election right around the corner and dwindling opportunity to make a dent. So Smith turned the well-established, thoroughly uncontroversial rules of criminal procedure on their head and asked Judge Chutkan for permission to file first — even with no actual defense motion pending. Trump’s team objected, and the judge acknowledged that Smith’s request to file first was “procedurally irregular” — moments before she ruled in Smith’s favor, as she’s done at virtually every consequential turn. 

Which brings us to the second point: Smith’s proactive filing is prejudicial to Trump, legally and politically. It’s ironic. Smith has complained throughout the case that Trump’s words might taint the jury pool. Accordingly, the special counsel requested a gag order that was so preposterously broad that even Judge Chutkan slimmed it down considerably (and the Court of Appeals narrowed it further after that). 

Yet Smith now uses grand-jury testimony (which ordinarily remains secret at this stage) and drafts up a tidy 165-page document that contains all manner of damaging statements about a criminal defendant, made outside of a trial setting and without being subjected to the rules of evidence or cross-examination, and files it publicly, generating national headlines. You know who’ll see those allegations? The voters, sure — and also members of the jury pool. 

And that brings us to our final point: Smith’s conduct here violates core DOJ principle and policy. The Justice Manual — DOJ’s internal bible, essentially — contains a section titled “Actions That May Have an Impact on the Election.” Now: Does Smith’s filing qualify? May it have an impact on the election? Of course. So what does the rule tell us? “Federal prosecutors … may never select the timing of any action, including investigative steps, criminal charges, or statements, for the purpose of affecting any election.”

That’s why no one believes anything Smith says, except Democrats, who’ve been brain-damaged after banging their heads against the wall for the past 10 years. 

Editor's Note: Do you enjoy Townhall's conservative reporting that takes on the radical Left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.

Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.