‘My Office Didn’t Spy On Anyone’: Jack Smith Spars With GOP Congressman In Tense Hearing

In a tense exchange Thursday, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) accused former special counsel Jack Smith of “spying” on his political enemies as he sought to bring criminal charges against Donald Trump in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol attacks.

Smith’s public testimony comes several weeks after he told lawmakers in a closed-door session that he had proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the president conspired to overturn the 2020 election.

“Maybe they’re not your political enemies, but they sure as hell were Joe Biden’s political enemies, weren’t they?” Issa asked. “They were [Kamala] Harris’s political enemies. They were the enemies of the president. And you were their arm, weren’t you?”

“No,” Smith answered unequivocally.

“No? Oh, great,” Issa said sarcastically. “So, you spied on the speaker of the House and these other senators and so on, and informed no one and, in fact, put in a gag order so they couldn’t discover it. If they were not subjects of a conspiracy investigation, why did Congress, a separate branch that you, under the Constitution, have to respect — Why is it that no one should be informed, including the judges? A as you went in to spy on these people, did you mention that you were spying on seeking records so you could find out about when conversations occurred between the U.S. speaker of the House and the president? Did you inform the judge or did you hold that back?”

“My office didn’t spy on anyone,” Smith declared.

“Wait a second,” Issa shot back. “The question I asked you, Mr. Smith, was pretty straightforward. Did you withhold that information from an Article III judge in the process of taking the records of the speaker of the House?”

“We complied with department —” Smith began as Issa jumped in, “Did you hold —”

Ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) interrupted, “Mr. Chairman, would you please instruct the gentleman to allow the witness to answer the question?”

“It’s not your time! I’d like my time back,” Issa protested.

Raskin accused Issa of repeatedly interrupting witnesses, adding, “The witness has the right to answer the question!”

At the end of the scuffle over reclaiming his time, Issa reluctantly yielded back “in disgust of this witness. ”

Watch the clip above via MS NOW.

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