Washington finally got a moment of accidental honesty on Thursday, and it did not come from a leak or a whistleblower. It came straight from the mouth of Jack Smith under oath.
During Smith’s first ever public testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa forced an admission that Republicans have been warning about for years. Smith confirmed that his office withheld critical information from a federal judge while seeking a nondisclosure order tied to subpoenas for phone records involving Republican lawmakers.
In plain English, the court was not told who was actually being targeted.
Issa asked directly whether Smith’s team disclosed the names of senior Republicans, including then Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, when requesting secrecy over the subpoenas. Smith’s answer was stunning in its bluntness.
“We did not provide that information to the judge when we requested a nondisclosure order,” Smith testified, insisting it was “consistent with the law.”
That was all Issa needed. He called it what it was, an admission that the executive branch deliberately concealed key facts from the judicial branch while snooping on members of Congress. Issa accused Smith of blowing a hole straight through the separation of powers, letting Article II prosecutors operate in the dark while Article III judges signed off without full context.
Before yielding back his time, Issa said he was doing so “in disgust of this witness,” a moment that captured what millions of Americans have felt watching the so called Trump investigations unfold.
The hearing took place at the Rayburn House Office Building and focused on Smith’s now defunct prosecutions of President Trump, which conveniently collapsed after Trump won the 2024 election. Republicans have long argued the investigations were political warfare disguised as law enforcement. Thursday’s testimony poured gasoline on that argument.
Much of the session centered on Smith’s use of subpoenas to collect phone metadata related to January 6, including records connected to GOP lawmakers. Republicans called it spying on political opponents. Smith called it routine.
Chairman Jim Jordan hammered the idea of a weaponized justice system, while Democrats like Jamie Raskin rushed to Smith’s defense, praising his resume and repeating the tired line that “no one is above the law.”
Smith himself doubled down, saying he would prosecute Trump again under the same facts, regardless of party. That comment alone tells you this was never about neutrality. It was about obsession.
The criminal cases are now dead, but the damage is not. Issa’s exchange exposed the core problem, prosecutors hiding the ball from judges while targeting elected officials. That is not justice. That is a power grab, and on Thursday, Jack Smith admitted it on the record.