Jack Smith is done staying quiet. The former special counsel who prosecuted Trump twice sat down with Nicolle Wallace for his first interview since resigning, and he did not hold back. “I think we are facing an attack on the rule of law that is different in kind and scope to anything I’ve seen in my lifetime,” Smith warned.
Smith knows exactly what speaking out could cost him. He acknowledged that
a retribution indictment from Trump’s Justice Department “could happen.” He said it anyway.
And instead of protecting himself, he used the moment to defend the people Trump has been punishing. Smith said it angers him to watch career public servants get demonized and fired for simply doing their jobs, and he called on Americans to stand up for them.
“I think it’s really important that we stand up for them and let them know that there are a lot of people out there who back them and who are with them,” he said.
Smith pointed to the retribution prosecutions of James Comey and Letitia James
as proof of how far things have fallen, and revealed that judges across the country have said they can no longer trust DOJ prosecutors. He also warned he is “very concerned about what’s going to happen next election.”
But even facing all of that, Smith’s message to the next generation of public servants was defiant. Don’t give up on the Justice Department. Don’t give up on the rule of law.
He hasn’t. And he just proved it to the entire country.
