‘A Grave Miscalculation’: Jack Smith Insists There Is ‘No Way’ He Could Be Silenced by Trump

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith told MS NOW’s Nicolle Wallace on Thursday there is “no way” he will be intimidated by President Donald Trump’s apparent attempts to silence him. Smith added it would be a “grave miscalculation” to believe “going after me” will inhibit him from speaking up.

Wallace asked Smith about Trump’s ability to be elected for a second time, even though “the facts showed he’d committed multiple felonies.”

“My view, Nicole, is our country’s been a lot of things at a lot of different times, and what generally happens is when something really bad happens, Watergate, for example, we respond, and we get better as a result,” Smith said. “I’m not saying the Justice Department has been perfect every day, but the people I worked with, I saw people trying to move things in the right direction.”

Smith added that it would be “foolish” to deny the United States is not “facing challenges right now.”

“But when you face a challenge like we are today, you have a choice about the attitude you take towards it,” he continued. “Anyone can put anything on you, but you have a choice about the attitude you take. For me, and I think a lot of the people that I’ve worked with, our view is, ‘I want to behave now in a way that my kids will be proud of. I want to act in a way that when I’m retired, I look back on this time and say, I did things right’. I think a lot of people relate to that, and I think it’s understandable. And I think if we start aligning actions with our beliefs, it’s a huge, huge step.”

Being targeted by Trump, who has called for investigations into Smith, allowed the former special counsel to “find out who runs towards the fire, who kind of backs away,” something he said can be “difficult in the moment.”

But Smith pledged he would not back down from future consequences. “I am not going to be intimidated. And there’s no way in the world… if the thought was to go after me so that I wouldn’t speak up about the corruption that’s happening or speak up to defend these agents and prosecutors, that is a grave miscalculation. There is no way that I’m going to be intimidated.”

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