There is no greater threat to a free society than a government that turns its most fearsome powers against its own citizens. When prosecutors abandon justice and start hunting political enemies, when federal law enforcement becomes a cudgel for the party in charge, we are no longer living under the rule of law. We are living under something far uglier. And most Americans can feel it.

The pattern has repeated for years now. Unelected officials abuse their authority, surveil people without justification, then hide behind procedural technicalities when the spotlight finds them. But every so often, the curtain gets ripped back hard enough that even Washington can’t look away. That moment has arrived.

From the Daily Wire:

House Republicans urged the Justice Department to prosecute former special counsel Jack Smith after new revelations that his team obtained text messages from dozens of members of Congress as part of their investigation into President Donald Trump.

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent a criminal referral Wednesday to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche accusing Smith of lying to lawmakers about the text messages. Documents released last week by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) show that Smith’s investigative team accessed text messages involving 44 members of Congress, including both Republicans and Democrats, during their investigation into the 2020 election.

Forty-four sitting members of Congress. Let that land for a second. Republicans and Democrats alike had their private text messages hoovered up by Jack Smith’s team. This wasn’t a targeted investigation. It was a surveillance operation — a sprawling dragnet aimed at the elected representatives of the American people.

Here’s what makes it worse. Smith’s team reportedly bypassed a DOJ “Filter Team” specifically created to protect privileged communications before investigators could touch them. Internal subject matter experts within the Justice Department warned that the subpoenas might be unconstitutional. Smith’s team heard those warnings and charged ahead anyway. Apparently the Constitution is optional when you’ve got a president to take down.

The art of the half-truth

When Jordan’s committee deposed Smith back in December 2025, he was asked point-blank whether he had subpoenaed lawmakers’ text messages. Smith said no. In the strictest, most lawyerly sense, that may have been technically accurate — the texts came through the National Archives, not a direct subpoena to telecom companies. But any serious federal prosecutor understands that withholding material information under oath isn’t candor. It’s calculated misdirection.

Smith’s attorneys fired back, calling his testimony “unimpeachably truthful.” Their actual argument? That Jordan was pushing an “unprecedented theory that Mr. Smith provided false testimony not because of what he said, but because of what he did not say.” Stop and read that one more time. His own lawyers are conceding he didn’t volunteer the truth. They’re just arguing he wasn’t obligated to. That’s not a defense. That’s a confession wrapped in legal jargon.

Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, predictably, rushed to Smith’s rescue. His take? Republicans were simply upset they “didn’t ask the right questions.” Right. So it’s Congress’s fault for not being clairvoyant. Smith sat in that room, knew exactly what the committee was investigating, knew his team had accessed the content of lawmakers’ messages — and said nothing. Raskin can spin all he wants. Silence in that chair wasn’t prudence. It was obstruction.

An enemy of the American constitutional order

Enough with the euphemisms. Jack Smith is not a misunderstood public servant. He is a man who weaponized federal law enforcement to target a president, steamrolled the constitutional protections of a co-equal branch of government, and then — when called to account — played word games under oath.

If any ordinary American pulled that stunt before Congress, the handcuffs would already be on. Smith deserves no special treatment. He should be arrested, charged, and convicted. Not out of vengeance. Out of principle. He was entrusted with extraordinary power, and he wielded it like a partisan weapon. That demands consequences.

President Trump captured what millions of Americans are feeling when he posted on Truth Social: “Justice at last???”

The Constitution demands an answer

This criminal referral cannot be allowed to collect dust. The American people did not send their representatives to Washington so that an unaccountable prosecutor could secretly harvest their private communications and then mislead Congress about it.

Jack Smith wanted to be the man who brought down a president. Instead, he may have brought down himself. The Constitution demands nothing less.

Key Takeaways

• Jack Smith’s team secretly accessed texts from 44 members of Congress during the Trump investigation.
• Smith allegedly deceived Congress by withholding material information under oath.
• Jim Jordan has sent a criminal referral to DOJ demanding Smith’s prosecution.
• Constitutional accountability requires that no prosecutor operate above the law.

Sources: Daily Wire, The Hill