Jack Smith says rule of law under unprecedented attack in first TV interview since resignation

Jack Smith, the former special counsel who brought two federal indictments against Donald Trump, said he believes the rule of law is under an unprecedented attack during his first televised interview since resigning from the Justice Department less than two weeks before Trump returned to office in 2025.

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Speaking to MS NOW’s Nicolle Wallace on Thursday, Smith said the attack is “different in kind and scope to anything I’ve seen in my lifetime.”

“I have investigated cases focusing on the facts and law throughout my career. We did this case the same way, under the same standards,” said Smith, who brought charges accusing Trump of interfering in the 2020 election.

Smith told Wallace that he approached the investigation the same way he handled every case during his career: relying on the facts and the law rather than politics.

“I have investigated cases focusing on the facts and law throughout my career. We did this case the same way, under the same standards,” Smith told MS NOW.

“The thing that’s important for your viewers to know is those standards are not meant to change from one administration to the next, and in my experience — until now — they haven’t.”

In the election interference case, Smith said Trump was culpable in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after he lost to Joe Biden in the November election. The rioters were trying to stop the House from certifying the election results after Trump told them to march to the Capitol.

Smith also indicted Trump on federal criminal charges of retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Largo home in Florida after his first term ended.

Smith was appointed special counsel in 2022 by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland to independently lead  the investigations.

Both criminal cases led to federal indictments but were ultimately dismissed after Trump won his second term, due to a long-standing Department of Justice policy that prevents sitting presidents from facing criminal prosecution.