Senate Republicans’ plan to grill former special counsel Jack Smith next week could backfire on them, according to legal analyst Michael Popok.
Smith is set to testify Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), at a hearing Republicans have titled “Oversight of Jack Smith’s Abuse of Authority and the Targeting of Republicans.”
“It’s a big break for Jack Smith. He’s the one who’s been pushing to testify publicly,” Popok’s guest, MeidasTouch Washington bureau chief Scott MacFarlane, said on the Legal AF program. “Jack Smith wants the scrutiny of the fishbowl because he doesn’t want to be lied about.”
Popok said the hearing’s premise falls apart on its face. Republicans have argued that Smith focused his investigation on members of their party, but Popok said there was an obvious reason for that.
“It’s because this was a Republican-led plot, if you believe the indictment, to overthrow democracy and stop the peaceful transfer of power,” he said.
Popok predicted Smith would tell senators he would have done the same thing had Democrats been involved. Grassley has taken the opposite view, saying Democrats would never stop complaining if Smith had treated them that way.
Grassley’s own records muddy the targeting claim. They show Smith’s team obtained texts that 44 members of Congress sent to White House officials, including messages from Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey.
Much of the GOP anger centers on phone toll records Smith subpoenaed for several Republican lawmakers. MacFarlane noted that such records show who called whom and when, but not what was said. Smith’s lawyers have made the same argument.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) has referred Smith for prosecution, faulting him for not volunteering information during a closed-door deposition. Smith’s attorneys say he told the truth, and Popok argued Smith accurately answered what he was asked.
Republicans may have reason to worry. They privately conceded that Smith handled himself well behind closed doors and posed a serious threat to Trump with a public platform, The New York Times reported earlier this year.
Popok added that Republicans face another hurdle in public opinion. He claimed polling shows a “vast majority of Americans think that Jack Smith is a hero,” adding that “the narrative doesn’t really work.” Smith has previously testified that he had proof beyond a reasonable doubt against Trump.
MacFarlane predicted the hearing would amount to political theater, with senators on both sides chasing viral clips.
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