Jack Smith accuses DOJ of corruption and targeting Trump’s enemies
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Former special counsel Jack Smith gave an unusually impassioned speech to several hundred people during a private event, accusing the Justice Department of being “corrupt” and targeting enemies of President Donald Trump.
Smith hosted a private dinner in DC in April and New York Times This week, the focus has been on the Justice Department’s decisions to investigate and prosecute some of Trump’s prominent political rivals, such as former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. The former special adviser accused the ministry of weaponizing its authority; This was the same charge Republicans leveled against Smith for filing two criminal cases against Trump during the Biden administration.
“Today we have a Justice Department that targets people for criminal prosecution simply because the president doesn’t like them,” Smith said.
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Former special counsel Jack Smith testifies at a House Judiciary Committee hearing at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 22, 2026. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
A DOJ spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the department “expects nothing less from Jack Smith, whose sole mission was to politically prosecute a former president for the purpose of preventing him from running for office again.”
“This Justice Department has put an end to the weaponization by the Biden Administration and will continue to ensure that no one is above the law,” the spokesperson said.
Smith sued Trump for allegedly trying to illegally overturn the 2020 election and withholding classified national defense information. While Smith faces significant hurdles in his election case, his classified documents lawsuit was dismissed by Trump appointee Judge Aileen Cannon, who said he was illegally appointed as special counsel. Smith’s office was appealing Cannon’s decision when Trump won the 2024 election. Weeks later, Smith moved to dismiss both federal cases, citing the Justice Department’s longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Smith, calling him a corrupt “thug” who is in prison. In January, Trump said on Truth Social that Smith was a “deranged animal” who should lose his law license. Smith is a longtime lawyer who investigated war crimes at The Hague and ran the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section during the Obama administration.
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Former President Donald Trump speaks with members of the media outside the New York State Supreme Court in New York during a civil lawsuit with New York Attorney General Letitia James on October 25, 2023. (Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg)
Trump said he hoped the Justice Department was investigating Smith, including “some of the crooked and corrupt witnesses he tried to use in his case against me. The whole thing was a Democrat SCAM. They need to pay big time for what they put our country through!”
The president’s remarks directly contradict Smith’s rare, impassioned comment at the special; not only does he accuse the other of using a gun, but Smith faces the threat of federal prosecution for targeting Trump, even though the Justice Department and congressional investigators have yet to uncover criminal wrongdoing on the part of Smith.
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Smith said the Justice Department has “become corrupt” over the past year, but he believes the department will “ultimately come through this better.”
Smith also accused the Justice Department of ignoring cases that could reveal “inconvenient” facts that would contradict “the narratives the president would want to publish.”
Smith praised career prosecutors and said a “key component” of the current Justice Department’s strategy is to punish people like several Minnesota attorneys who resigned in protest over internal disagreements over how to handle the investigation into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who killed 37-year-old anti-ICE activist Renee Good.
“To erode the rule of law in this country, you have to attack these people, and that’s what we’ve been seeing since January 2025,” Smith said.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche criticized reporters at a press conference on April 21, 2026, for asking questions about a viral story from The Atlantic that alleged FBI Director Kash Patel had exhibited ‘erratic behavior’ due to frequent intoxication. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
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But Smith’s comments weren’t all negative, according to the New York Times. He praised the Justice Department for being more vocal than the Biden administration, a comment that came after Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who replaced Pam Bondi a month ago, adopted an aggressive, proactive media strategy. Blanche held a series of press conferences, where she answered off-topic questions and also conducted numerous wide-ranging interviews with friendly and harsh media outlets.
A Smith representative had no comment. Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
