Each passing day seems to bring fresh evidence of just how far former Special Counsel Jack Smith and the Biden-era Justice Department were willing to go in their crusade against Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 election.
Over the weekend, Smith managed to confirm what many conservatives have long suspected: that he is, as critics charge, a partisan operative with scant respect for constitutional limits. According to RedState, he appeared at an openly anti-Trump music festival headlined by Trump-deranged rocker Bruce Springsteen, sporting a No Kings T-shirt that left little doubt about his political sympathies.
The display came despite Smiths sworn testimony to the U.S. Senate that I have no partisan loyalty. As one viral post noted, Jack Smith under oath in the U.S. Senate: I have no partisan loyalty. Jack Smith four days later, juxtaposed with the image of his No Kings attire, underscored the glaring disconnect between his public assurances and his private behavior.
Earlier Monday, RedStates Teri Christoph detailed how the Biden-era FBI engaged in what can only be described as political surveillance, targeting now-White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. The operation, which unfolded under the broader Trump documents probe, raises profound questions about whether federal law enforcement has been weaponized against political opponents of the current administration.
Yet the scope of the operation appears to have been even more disturbing than initially reported, extending beyond senior GOP figures to members of the Trump family themselves. Not only did Smiths team focus on Wiles and multiple Republican lawmakers, but they also tracked First Lady Melania Trump and her teenage son Barron, behavior that most Americans would recognize as stalking.
One widely shared post captured the outrage: ?? HOLY CRAP! The Biden FBI TRACKED BARRON, per declassified files The Jack Smith-directed investigation had Barron Trump as a target of the surveillance, along with Melania Trump tracking their travel The Biden regime also monitored now-Chief of Staff SUSIE WILES' cellphone, advisors and journalists ?? THIS IS ONE OF THE LARGEST DOJ SCANDALS EVER. On top of what we already know, it only makes it worse... Jack Smith should be behind bars TONIGHT! He's a dirty deep state agent who wanted NOTHING other than to lock up Trump or get his allies on anything. The post was repeated for emphasis, underscoring the sense on the right that this was not a routine investigation but a politically motivated dragnet.
Although Smith had not yet been formally appointed Special Counsel at the time of the 2022 FBI raid on Mar-a-Lagowhen agents notoriously rifled through Melania Trumps personal belongings, including her lingerie drawerhe assumed control of the probe shortly thereafter. By then, he would have been fully aware of the surveillance of Barron and Melania Trump, as well as the monitoring of Susie Wiles and her communications network.
Documents released Monday by the White House detail Plasmic Echo, the probe later led by special counsel Jack Smith into whether Trump improperly retained classified documents after leaving office. Those declassified records show agents tracked the First Lady and First Son's travel while planning the Mar-a-Lago search, then monitored Susie Wiles calls involving defense lawyers, campaign advisers and journalists.
The files indicate that the surveillance focused on call metadata rather than the actual content of conversations. Even so, the systematic collection of such information on a presidents family, senior campaign advisers, and members of the press represents a sweeping intrusion that would have sparked national outrage had it targeted a Democratic administration.
This leads to the obvious question: Why are Jack Smith, former Attorney General Merrick Garland, and former FBI Director Christopher Wray not facing legal consequences for authorizing and executing such tactics? The documents show that Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland signed off on the [Wiles] wiretaps on the advice of then-FBI Director Christopher Wray, who sent Garland a memo in May 2022 warning the sensitive investigation could encompass top figures from the 45th presidents administration and could potentially be disruptive to the democratic process if publicly disclosed prior to an election.
Despite that acknowledgment, Wray did not urge restraint; instead, he pressed forward. Still, Wray encouraged Garland with a handwritten message at the bottom of the memo reading: Merrick, I recommend you approve. CW.
Acquiring Wiles phone records alone would have been a serious overreach in a healthy constitutional republic, but extending surveillance to a political rivals wife and child crosses a line that should alarm Americans of all political stripes. As conservatives ask how senior officials could justify such conduct, a more fundamental question lingers: in a nation built on limited government and individual liberty, How did they sleep at night?
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