Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Jack Smith Blows Up GOP Hearing with Trump Bombshells

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Starting point is 00:01:05 Donald Trump, but it backfired on them today because he gave an opening statement. And we know what that opening statement is from reporting. You're on Midas Touch Network and on Legal A.F. Let's get to the bottom of the Jack Smith matter and wait to you hear what he's told the American people in this new reporting. I'm Michael Popock. Glad you're here. Take a minute.

Starting point is 00:01:28 Come over to Legal A.F. channel, hit the subscribe button. We're going to crack one million subscribers because of you. Here's what the Jack Smith, among many things, gave as his opening speech and it went downhill for Donald Trump from here. He said, our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power. investigation also developed powerful evidence that showed President Trump willfully retained highly classified documents after he left office in January 2021, storing them at his social

Starting point is 00:02:11 club, Mara Lago, including in a bathroom, a ballroom, and where events and gatherings took place. Let me unpack that for right now. We don't have the video yet because it was behind closed doors because the MAGA Republicans don't want the American people to hear directly from Jack Smith, although we've heard directly from Jack Smith. Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt. That's even higher than the standard necessary to bring a criminal prosecution. In order to get an indictment, you have to believe that there is probable cause to believe that you can sustain a conviction through appeal, not prove beyond a reasonable doubt. That's the standard of trial. So he's saying, I have more evidence that I even needed in order to bring this particular case.

Starting point is 00:02:56 He also went on to say in his statement, exploiting that violence on Jan 6, President Trump and his associates tried to call members of Congress in furtherance of their criminal scheme, urging them to further delay certification of the 2020 election. This is the Arctic Hays, the investigation into phone calls, and Jack Smith's group not obtaining a wiretap subpoena, but being able to get the records, the telephone billing records to show who is calling who and when of members of Congress. Jack Smith went on, he said, I didn't choose those members that were called President Trump did. Now, we've heard from Jack Smith before. In fact, I'm going to bring you back in the Wayback Machine, I feel like Mr. Peabody, in the Wayback Machine, to when Jack Smith announced the indictment. Here's a clip of Jack Smith,

Starting point is 00:03:51 which just so happens to be, get this, on the Department of Justice website, even as we speak. I'm sure after they see this hot take, it's coming down. But here's the video for you a little bit of a blast from the past, Jack Smith on the indictment being announced. Play the clip. Today, an indictment was unsealed, charging Donald J. Trump with conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters, and conspiring and attempting to obstruct

Starting point is 00:04:21 an official proceeding. The indictment was issued by a grand jury of citizens here in the District of Columbia, and it sets forth the crimes charged in detail. I encourage everyone to read it in full. The attack on our nation's capital on January 6th, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy. As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies. Lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government, the nation's process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election.

Starting point is 00:05:07 The men and women of law enforcement who defended the U.S. Capitol on January 6th are heroes. They are patriots and they are the very best of us. They did not just defend a building or the people sheltering in it. They put their lives in the line to defend who we are as a country and as a people. They defended the very institutions and principles that define the United States. Since the attack on our Capitol, the Department of Justice has remained committed to ensuring accountability for those criminally responsible for what happened that day. This case is brought consistent with that commitment.

Starting point is 00:05:48 And our investigation of other individuals continues. We've also heard from Jack Smith a couple of months ago when he knew he was going to be the subject of being brought in, being subpoenaed by Congress to hear his testimony. So he started to get his testimony out, and he gave testimony to Andrew Weissman in a, I think it was actually overseas, about his investigation and the Department of Justice. Here's a clip to remind you of what Jack Smith said then. The idea that politics would play a role in big cases like this, it's absolutely ludicrous and it's totally contrary to my experience as a prosecutor. These are team players who don't want anything but to do good in the world. They're not interested in politics and I get very concerned when I see how easy it is to

Starting point is 00:06:45 demonize these people for political ends. I worked in the department for years, Republican. Democrat, Republican. I worked in the, I was the acting U.S. attorney in the first Trump administration in Tennessee. Nothing like what we see now has ever gone on. If there's rules in the department about how to bring a case, follow those rules. You can't say, I want this outcome. Let me throw the rules out. The problem is not prosecuting high officials who did something wrong when you do it according to the processes of law in your country. It's the retaliation. That's the problem. Now, Jamie Raskin, who I've had the pleasure of meeting and introducing at a fundraiser recently, the ranking member of the Democratic Party on the House Judiciary Committee, he had this to say about the decision by his colleagues on the right, the MAGA colleagues, not to allow Jack Smith to be heard out loud in front of the American people like the Jan 6 committee. Let's play Jamie Raskin's clip.

Starting point is 00:07:53 I just want to say that Chairman Jordan made an excellent decision in not allowing Jack Smith to talk. testify publicly, because had he done so, it would have been absolutely devastating to the president and all the president's men involved in the insurrectionary activities of January the 6th. So, you know, I can't get into any further particulars, but I'll just say that Jack Smith has just spent several hours schooling the Judiciary Committee on the professional responsibilities of a prosecutor and the ethical duties of a prosecutor. And he's a sensational and honorable public servant, and we are lucky to have him in the bar in the United States of America. Did you describe, at least, what his message was generally to the community?

Starting point is 00:08:43 Again, you know, he was, he's being asked, he's been asked, and he's answering questions. So he didn't come with any particular message, but I'll just say that he's answered every single question to, the satisfaction of any reasonable-minded person in that room. Anything including that you reached at the end of his investigation that he disclosed with the committee in the deposition? Well, his report speaks for itself in terms of January the 6th and the indictments that were handed down. And the other report should be public. I mean, that's just absolutely aberrational that it's not public. Just like his testimony should be public.

Starting point is 00:09:24 Every other special counsel has been able to come here and testify. Robert Mueller's been able to testify. Robert Hur's been able to testify all the special counsels and independent councils have come in. And his second report on the retention of classified documents and what crimes may have been committed

Starting point is 00:09:41 should also be released. Exactly. You know, they made a good decision. You know, that feeling when your morning coffee is supposed to kickstart your day, but instead your stomach's grumbling, your focus is in sharp. Then by 10 a.m., you're already craving a nap.

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Starting point is 00:11:34 districts. He maintained that his team found evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he engaged in that criminal scheme. He said, I made my decision in the investigation without regard to President Trump's political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election. We took actions, meaning his team, took actions based on what the facts and the law required, the very lesson I learned early in my career as a prosecutor. He said he would have made the same decision if Trump had been a Democrat or Republican, a nod to the GOP members of the committee who believed Smith was pursuing a partisan agenda. And the rest, we're still waiting for Aileen Cannon or the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to release part two, volume two of the

Starting point is 00:12:22 Jack Smith report about Morrowago. We've already had part one. If you read part one and you read it back to back with the Jan 6 committee's report, I don't even know why. I mean, I'm happy that they're asking Jack Smith to testify. Donald Trump wants Jack Smith prosecuted. They want him investigated for what? For doing his job in a nonpartisan way?

Starting point is 00:12:46 If a Democrat did half the things that Donald Trump did, he'd be, he or she would be prosecuted and investigated. We'd want it to be that way. So what's going to happen now is that there's going to be two competing media campaigns. Jim Jordan and the Comer on the House MAGA committees are going to try to spoon feed information. They'll try to release the transcript. They'll bury it. They're hoping nobody will read it. They won't release the video of it. They wouldn't allow it to be televised because they got everything to hide, as Jamie Raskin pointed out. That's one media campaign. And then you got Jack Smith, who's in the very capable hands of lawyers like Abby Lowell

Starting point is 00:13:31 and a whole team around him, and they're going to get the word out. You're going to see, I think, more public statements, more speeches, more interviews. Maybe we'll get them on legal A.F. Attention, Jack Smith. I'll put up a bat signal. Come to Legal A.F. for an interview, our audience and the Midas Dutch audience, will be really, really receptive and pleased.

Starting point is 00:13:55 I think he's going to do a lot more than that. We're going to see these competing media. But the American people have made up their mind. They know that Donald Trump was a convicted felon. They know that he is doing underhanded criminal things, even as we speak, and trying to hide it from the American people. So if they thought this was going to be some sort of framework, that Donald Trump could start using, along with these interviews that his administration is giving,

Starting point is 00:14:23 like to Vanity Fair of all things, and Susie Wiles, and he's going on, he's going on interview after interview, and he's doing a big speech tonight about his economic accomplishments and maybe that were going to war with Venezuela. If he thought they were going to add into that, that Jack Smith's a bad guy and did bad things and it was all a witch hunt, it backfired. Because Jack Smith's not a bad guy. Because he's a competent and talented. civil servant that's doing his job without fear of retribution, without fear or favor, following the facts wherever they led, proudly representing the Department of Justice. Remember when the Department of Justice was proud, when it had values and a reputation

Starting point is 00:15:11 until it was corrupted by Donald Trump and Pam Bondi? I mean, look at the sharp contrast. Smith, choir boy, boy scout, committed to the rule of law, committed to his professional duties as an officer of the court versus what the, look what the Department of Justice has become under its chief legal officer, Donald Trump, corrupted, partisan, political, can't trust a word that comes out of its mouth. And we're going to continue to follow it all right here. You're on Midas Touch. Hit that subscribe button. This is the way we stay together and grow these channels together. And help me cross that one million free subscriber barrier

Starting point is 00:15:58 over on LegalAF YouTube. I think we're going to do it before Christmas, but only with your help. So until my next report, I'm Michael Popock. Can't get your fill of LegalAF. Me neither. That's why we form the Legal AF substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument. Come over to the substack. You'll find the court filing in the oral argument there, including a daily roundup

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Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Jack Smith Blows Up GOP Hearing with Trump Bombshells

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