Staff Reports
On January 22, 2026, former Special Counsel Jack Smith sat before the House Judiciary Committee and endured a withering round of Republican questioning about his investigations into the last administration. What began as a search for answers quickly devolved into a partisan soap opera, with committee members pressing Smith hard on whether his team improperly sought toll and phone records.
Republican Rep. Darrell Issa did what hardworking Americans expect from GOP oversight — he asked blunt, uncomfortable questions about potential targeting of political opponents and whether basic legal norms were followed. Issa’s exchanges grew heated enough that he closed his questioning by saying he yielded back “in disgust” at the witness, a line that should alarm any citizen who cares about equal treatment under the law.
Unsurprisingly, Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin repeatedly jumped in to shield Smith, frequently demanding the witness be allowed to answer even as Issa tried to regain his time. That calculated intervention looked less like defending decorum and more like partisan rescue — Democrats once again bending over backward to protect the investigators who targeted their political opponents.
Smith’s own testimony did not calm legitimate concerns; he defended the seizure of toll data and subpoenas for lawmakers’ phone records in the so-called Arctic Frost probe, insisting the steps were necessary to build a timeline. For Americans who value privacy and separation of powers, the idea that investigators quietly vacuumed up communications involving members of Congress should raise serious red flags about mission creep and overreach.
This spectacle underscores a broader problem: Washington’s swamp still rewards those who weaponize the levers of government against political enemies while party operatives stand guard. If Republicans are to restore accountability and protect ordinary Americans from bureaucratic bullying, they must keep up the pressure, expose the political theater for what it is, and demand real consequences when the people’s trust is abused.
