US facing an 'attack on the rule of law,' former special counsel Jack Smith says
The United States is facing an "attack on the rule of law that is different in kind and scope to anything I've seen in my lifetime," the special counsel who brought charges against Donald Trump after his first term said Thursday.
Former special counsel Jack Smith told MS Now that judges can't trust the Justice Department as it's been reconstituted under the current Trump administration.
"That's happening every day. And so regardless of what you think politically, they're just not effective at doing their job anymore," Smith said of the DOJ.
"They've jettisoned expertise. We have a situation where we've got rid of people who know how to protect our national security. And we think that that's somehow not going to have an effect on our national security," he said.
Smith also said that people inside the Justice Department are being "victimized" and "demonized" for doing their jobs.
"We've seen so many times in these retribution cases where prosecutors wouldn't be a part of it," Smith said. "Prosecutors in Minnesota were like, I'm not going to investigate the family member of a shooting victim. I'm not doing that," Smith said in reference to shootings earlier this year by members of Immigration and Customs Enforcement carrying out the administration's immigration crackdown.
"Prosecutors wouldn't go through with retribution prosecutions," Smith said.
The former special counsel said there are also costs to the sweeping pardons Trump granted for those convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"There's the obvious cost of recidivism. These are people who committed their crimes in the name and in the interest of Donald Trump, and he's returned the favor by pardoning them," Smith said.
"That sends one message to them; a message I'm equally concerned about is the message that it sends to law enforcement," he said.
Smith said that is "just plain wrong."
As a result, he said, he is "very concerned" about the integrity of the upcoming midterm elections.
"The people who perpetrated Jan. 6 have probably learned from how they did that," he said.
Smith charged Trump in 2023 with undertaking a "criminal scheme" to overturn the results of the 2020 election in order to remain in power, and with mishandling classified materials after leaving the White House in 2021.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in both cases, before both cases were dropped following Trump's reelection due to the Justice Department's long-standing policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president, after a federal judge tossed the classified documents case on the grounds that Smith's appointment was unconstitutional.
"We did this case the way I've done cases throughout my career, same investigative techniques, same use of the tools that a federal prosecutor has," Smith said, adding that there was "no predetermined outcome" in his decision-making as special counsel.
"That just that contrasts to what we're seeing today, where there is a predetermined outcome, process doesn't matter, and we just have to find a way to get to that outcome," Smith said, referencing the DOJ's recent cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James that were dismissed because the appointment of the U.S. attorney who brought the indictments was deemed invalid.
"The only reasonable explanation is the president has it out for these people," Smith said. "And he has people who are his former personal lawyers who are going to do what he says, regardless of the facts or law."
After it was announced that a major law firm was representing Smith, the Justice Department targeted the firm by stripping Smith and attorneys representing him of their security clearances.
"As soon as that becomes public, the president and the Justice Department target that law firm, and they do it because they don't want me to have counsel. They don't want to have anyone represent me," he said.
The law firm stood by Smith, he said.
Smith said he doesn't think about being indicted and said he is focusing on supporting the people who worked with him.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
