The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!
The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!

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Ted Cruz goes off on Jack Smith over subpoenas and his convenient bout of amnesia

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BS BULLETIN:

  • Sen. Ted Cruz pressed Jack Smith over subpoenas involving Republican groups and conservative organizations.
  • Cruz displayed a chart citing 197 subpoenas and asked Smith whether being a Republican was a crime.
  • “Absolutely not, sir,” Smith replied.

Sen. Ted Cruz brought a chart to Tuesday’s Jack Smith hearing. Then he asked the former special counsel a question that stopped sounding rhetorical the longer the exchange went on.

“Is it a crime to be a Republican?”

“Absolutely not, sir,” Smith answered.

Cruz had been pressing Smith about the reach of his investigation into President Trump. He named organizations including the Republican National Committee and Turning Point USA and demanded to know whether Smith’s team had subpoenaed their records. When Smith said he could not recall particular subpoenas, Cruz grew visibly frustrated.

“You can sigh all you like; it’s a very simple question,” Cruz told him. “You know damn well you did!”

Behind Cruz was a chart citing 197 subpoenas involving hundreds of Republican individuals and organizations. The senator accused Smith of turning an investigation of Trump into a sweep through the Republican political world, calling his conduct a “disgraceful” abuse of Justice Department power. At another point, Cruz compared Smith to the relentless Inspector Javert from Les Misérables.

Smith denied targeting anyone for being a Republican. Throughout the hearing, he maintained that his team pursued evidence related to alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election and that politics played no role in his decisions.

The number on Cruz’s chart came from records previously released by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley. The dispute at Tuesday’s hearing was what those subpoenas meant: necessary steps in a criminal investigation, as Smith argued, or a dragnet that reached far beyond Trump, as Cruz charged.

 

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