'Nothing like it has ever happened': Jack Smith rips DOJ’s politicization under Trump

Former special counsel Jack Smith has, for the first time, publicly defended the investigation he led into President Donald Trump, calling it “ludicrous” to suggest the work was politically motivated. He also criticized the current Department of Justice's actions.

“I worked in the department for years — Republican, Democrat, Republican. I was the acting U.S. attorney in the first Trump administration in Tennessee. Nothing like what we see now has ever gone on. This case in New York City, where the case against [NY Mayor Eric Adams] was dismissed in the hopes that he would support the president’s political agenda. I mean, just so you know, nothing like it has ever happened that I’ve ever heard of,” he said.

Smith made these remarks on October 8 during a panel discussion at University College London. They gained renewed attention Tuesday after being highlighted on MSNBC.

Meanwhile, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee asked Smith Tuesday to sit for a hearing as part of a broader GOP push against Trump’s perceived opponents.

In a Tuesday letter, Rep. Jim Jordan (R‑OH) accused Smith’s Trump prosecutions of being “partisan and politically motivated.” His scrutiny deepened after reports that Smith’s team requested FBI analysis of the phone records of several Republican lawmakers during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Smith, serving as special counsel, had indicted Trump on two fronts in 2023: one alleging efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and another accusing improper retention of classified documents at Mar‑a‑Lago.