Jack Smith, the former special counsel who pursued President Trump in two criminal cases, may find himself on the scales of justice now that Republicans say they’ve found evidence he lied to Congress.
Mr. Smith told the House Judiciary Committee last year that the FBI’s Arctic Frost investigation of efforts to challenge the 2020 election results, which turned into the special counsel’s probe of Mr. Trump, might have collected records of times, dates and recipients of phone calls and messages from phones belonging to members of Congress.
But Mr. Smith insisted that investigators never looked at the contents of text messages.
New information from the Senate’s senior member this week says that’s not true. Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, said the Department of Justice’s latest information shows that Arctic Frost did get access to the contents of lawmakers’ text messages and broke department protocols to look at them.
“Jack Smith should be subject to prosecution for lying to Congress,” said Sen. Eric Schmitt, Missouri Republican.
“Looks like perjury,” Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, posted on social media. “Joe Biden’s DOJ not only tapped my phone; I just learned they ILLEGALLY obtained my texts with members of President Trump’s administration. Everyone involved needs to be PROSECUTED.”
In a hearing with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche this week, Mr. Hawley prodded him to launch the probe: “Have you thought about investigating this guy for perjury?”
“We take testimony in front of this body very seriously, yes,” Mr. Blanche replied.
‘Intemperate’ Biden judge allowed to stay on Trump immigration case
U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson may have been “intemperate” in her remarks about the administration, but a federal appeals court said her ranting about the president’s immigration policy wasn’t bad enough to get her kicked off Trump cases.
The Biden appointee to the federal court in San Francisco unloaded on the administration in a ruling last year, suggesting that deporting illegal immigrants was akin to slave trading.
Her decision blocked the administration from ending a deportation amnesty for Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal, saying the president was trying to make them “atone for their race, leave because of their names and purify their blood.”
The Justice Department appealed and asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to remove Judge Thompson from the case, should it have to be sent back down.
The case had been on hold while the U.S. Supreme Court pondered two similar cases involving Temporary Protected Status for two other nations, Haiti and Syria.
Late last month, the justices sided with the Trump administration, largely rejecting the reasoning Judge Thompson had used.
The 9th Circuit has sent its case back to Judge Thompson with orders to follow the Supreme Court — and rejected the Justice Department’s request that she be removed.
“Although some of the judge’s remarks may have been intemperate, they do not warrant the ‘rare and extraordinary’ relief of reassignment on remand,” the three-judge panel said.
Conservatives warn against left-wing gains in Michigan
Tudor Dixon, a Republican politician turned conservative commentator, said she has noticed yard signs in a relatively conservative area of western Michigan promoting Abdul El-Sayed, a left-wing Democrat seeking the state’s open U.S. Senate seat this year.
Mr. El-Sayed’s brand of liberal politics — criticism of Israel, support for universal government-sponsored healthcare and advocacy for defunding of immigration enforcement — is a strange fit for the region.
Ms. Dixon fears voters are being hoodwinked.
“These radical socialists are hiding behind the Democratic Party to appear innocuous, trying to get elected on vibes to hide their true agenda,” she said. “There needs to be an educational campaign exposing Abdul’s record, his connections to dangerous radicals, and so much more.”
Mr. El-Sayed is running against Rep. Hayley Stevens in the Democratic primary to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. Ms. Stevens is seen as the moderate in the race.
A poll taken last week by WDIV/Detroit News showed Ms. Stevens leading Mr. El-Sayed by about 7 percentage points.
• Seen, Heard & Whispered is a weekly column taking you inside the conversations happening in Washington’s power corridors, the moves being made and the whispers that explain what’s really going on in the nation’s capital. Email tips to whispered@washingtontimes.com. Click here to receive this in your inbox every Friday morning.
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