Politics
‘I will not be intimidated’: Former special counsel Jack Smith defends Trump investigation
WASHINGTON — Former special counsel Jack Smith on Thursday defended his findings that President Trump “willfully broke the law” in his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, telling lawmakers that Republican efforts to discredit the probe are “false and misleading.”
“No one should be above the law in our country, and the law required that [Trump] be held to account. So that is what I did,” Smith said during a frequently heated five-hour hearing before the House Judiciary Committee.
Smith appeared at the request of Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who accused him of pursuing a politically driven investigation and “muzzling a candidate for a high office.”
“It was always about politics and to get President Trump, they were willing to do just about anything,” Jordan said.
Jordan called investigations into the Jan. 6 insurrection “staged and choreographed,” and said Smith would have “blown a hole in the 1st Amendment” if his charges against Trump had been allowed to proceed.
Trump has repeatedly called for Smith to face prosecution over the probe, demanding he be disbarred and suggesting that Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi look into his conduct.
“I believe they will do everything in their power to [indict me] because they have been ordered to do so by the president,” Smith said at the hearing.
Smith’s 2023 investigation found that following Joe Biden’s 2020 victory, Trump led a months-long disinformation campaign to discredit the results, evidenced by audio from a call in which he pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes.”
Trump’s attempt to sow election discord culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, Smith said. The president directed rioters to halt the certification of the election results, he added.
In closed-door testimony to the committee last month, Smith said the Department of Justice had built a strong base of evidence of Trump’s criminal schemes to overturn the election.
A separate case alleged that the president unlawfully kept classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club after the loss.
Trump was indicted in the documents case in June 2023, and later for the alleged election conspiracy and fraud claims. Both cases were abandoned after his victory in the 2024 election on the basis of presidential immunity.
In his opening remarks, Smith reiterated his findings.
“President Trump was charged because the evidence established that he willfully broke the law, the very laws he took an oath to uphold,” he said. “Rather than accept his defeat, President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power.”
Republicans asserted that Justice Department subpoenas of phone records were an abuse of prosecutorial power and constituted surveillance of top government officials.
Smith replied that obtaining such data was “common” in conspiracy investigations and that the records showed call dates and times — not content — encompassing the days around Jan. 6, 2021.
Jordan questioned the special counsel’s judgment in personnel selections, which included Department of Justice investigators who probed the Trump campaign over alleged collusion with Russia in the 2016 presidential election.
“Democrats have been going after President Trump for 10 years — a decade — and we should never forget what they’ve done,” he said.
Smith, who has since left the Justice Department to open a private firm with his former deputies, was quick to defend the integrity of his team, adding that Trump has since sought to seek revenge against career prosecutors, FBI agents and support staff for their involvement in the cases.
“Those dedicated public servants are the best of us,” he said. “My fear is that we have seen the rule of law function in our country for so long that many of us have come to take it for granted.”
The hearing routinely devolved into disputes between party adversaries, with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) lodging scathing accusations against Smith, butting heads with Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) over procedure and yielding his time “in disgust” of the witness.
GOP committee members attempted to poke holes in Smith’s findings about the events of Jan. 6. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) accused Republicans on the committee of trying to “rewrite the history” of Jan. 6.
Midway through the hearing, Trump called Smith a “deranged animal” in a Truth Social post where he once again suggested his Department of Justice investigate the former special counsel.
“I will not be intimidated,” Smith said. “We followed the facts and we followed the law. That process resulted in proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed serious crimes. I’m not going to pretend that didn’t happen because he threatened me.”
The hearing came as Trump continues to repeat false claims that he had won in 2020.
“It was a rigged election. Everybody knows that now. And by the way, numbers are coming out that show it even more plainly,” Trump said Tuesday at a White House news briefing.
In an address to a global audience in Davos, Switzerland, the following day, he said that “people will soon be prosecuted for what they did.”
Politics
Republican who said Sen Cassidy ‘sucks,’ gets Trump endorsement after ditching Senate bid for House run
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President Donald Trump has endorsed Louisiana state Sen. Blake Miguez, who recently dropped a U.S. Senate bid to run for the U.S. House of Representatives instead.
“It is my Great Honor to endorse MAGA Warrior, Blake Miguez, who is running to represent the tremendous people of Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District,” the president declared in a Truth Social post on Wednesday. “Blake Miguez has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Representative from Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District — HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!”
Miguez thanked the president for his support.
BLAKE MIGUEZ, WHO SAID SEN CASSIDY ‘SUCKS,’ DROPS SENATE BID FOR HOUSE RUN
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters and members of the media at Mar-a-Lago on Feb. 1, 2026 in Palm Beach, Fla. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
“THANK YOU, President Trump for your ENDORSEMENT! Louisiana deserves true, America First representation in Washington to back the MAGA agenda. President Trump is the greatest president in our nation’s history. I’m honored to have the endorsement and look forward to delivering for Louisiana’s 5th and our country,” he declared in a post on X.
Last year, Miguez mounted a U.S. Senate bid, declaring in a campaign video that he was running for the position because GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana “sucks.”
After the House impeached Trump in 2021, Cassidy was one of the Republican senators who voted in favor of convicting, but the Senate vote occurred after the president had already departed from office and the vote ultimately failed to meet the threshold for conviction.
GOP LOUISIANA STATE SENATOR SAYS HE’S RUNNING FOR US SENATE BECAUSE INCUMBENT REPUBLICAN ‘SUCKS’
Louisiana state Sen. Blake Miguez, left, and U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy. (senate.la.gov | SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Last month, Trump threw his support behind Rep. Julia Letlow, pledging to back her for U.S. Senate.
“I am hearing that Julia is considering launching her Campaign for the United States Senate in Louisiana, a place I love and WON BIG, six times, including Primaries, in 2016, 2020, and 2024!” the president declared in a Truth Social post. “Should she decide to enter this Race, Julia Letlow has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, JULIA, RUN!!!”
Letlow, who currently represents Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District, launched a Senate bid days later.
TRUMP ENDORSEMENT ROCKS LOUISIANA SENATE RACE AS LETLOW JUMPS IN
U.S. President Donald Trump stands with U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., during the Congressional Ball at the Grand Foyer of the White House on Dec. 11, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
A press release this week declared that Miguez is now running for the U.S. House seat.
“When I announced my campaign for the U.S. Senate last year, I promised Louisianians I would stand with President Trump and fight for an America First agenda that puts Louisiana families first,” Miguez said, according to a press release. “I remain committed to that promise, and I’m ready to deliver the kind of representation that will support President Trump and help advance the mission to Make America Great Again.”
Politics
Supreme Court, with no dissents, rejects GOP challenge to California’s new election map
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that California this fall may use its new election map, which is expected to send five more Democrats to Congress.
With no dissents, the justices rejected emergency appeals from California Republicans and President Trump’s lawyers, who claimed the map was a racial gerrymander to benefit Latinos, not a partisan effort to bolster Democrats.
“Donald Trump said he was ‘entitled’ to five more congressional seats in Texas. He started this redistricting war. He lost, and he’ll lose again in November,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in response to the court’s decision.
Trump’s lawyers supported the California Republicans and filed a Supreme Court brief asserting that “California’s recent redistricting is tainted by an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.”
They pointed to statements from Paul Mitchell, who led the effort to redraw the districts, that he hoped to “bolster” Latino representatives in the Central Valley.
But the court turned down the appeal in a one-line order with no explanation.
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It was unusual for the Justice Department and the U.S. solicitor general to intervene in a state election dispute, especially after staking out the opposite view in a similar dispute from Texas.
Trump’s lawyers said the Texas redistricting favoring Republicans should be upheld, but the California redistricting favoring Democrats should be blocked.
The Trump arguments were met by silence from the court, including its six conservatives.
In defense of California’s new map, the state’s attorneys told the court the GOP claims defied the public’s understanding of the mid-decade redistricting and contradicted the facts regarding the racial and ethnic makeup of the districts.
Newsom proposed redrawing the state’s 52 congressional districts to “fight back against Trump’s power grab in Texas.”
He said that if Texas was going to redraw its districts to benefit Republicans so as to keep control of the House of Representatives, California should do the same to benefit Democrats.
Voters approved the change in November.
While the new map has five more Democratic-leaning districts, the state’s attorneys said it did not increase the number with a Latino majority.
“Before Proposition 50, there were 16 Latino-majority districts. After Proposition 50, there is the same number. The average Latino share of the voting-age population also declined in those 16 districts,” they wrote.
It would be “strange for California to undertake a mid-decade restricting effort with the predominant purpose of benefiting Latino voters and then enact a new map that contains an identical number of Latino-majority districts,” they said.
Trump’s lawyers pointed to the 13th Congressional District in Merced County and said its lines were drawn to benefit Latinos.
The state’s attorneys said that too was incorrect. “The Latino voting-age population [in District 13] decreased after Proposition 50’s enactment,” they said.
Three judges in Los Angeles heard evidence from both sides and upheld the new map in a 2-1 decision.
“We find that the evidence of any racial motivation driving redistricting is exceptionally weak, while the evidence of partisan motivations is overwhelming,” said U.S. District Judges Josephine Staton and Wesley Hsu.
“The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision is good news not only for Californians, but for our democracy,” said Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta. “Let’s remember how we got here. President Trump told Gov. Greg Abbott that Republicans were ‘entitled’ to five more congressional seats, and Texas Republicans fell in line.”
In the past, the Supreme Court has said the Constitution does not bar state lawmakers from drawing election districts for political or partisan reasons, but it does forbid doing so based on the race of the voters.
In December, the court ruled for Texas Republicans and overturned a 2-1 decision that had blocked the use of its new election map. The court’s conservatives agreed with Texas lawmakers who said they acted out of partisan motives, not with the aim of denying representation to Latino and Black voters.
“The impetus for the adoption of the Texas map (like the map subsequently adopted in California) was partisan advantage pure and simple,” Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote in a concurring opinion.
California’s lawyers quoted Alito in supporting their map.
“In reaffirming the lower court’s decision, the Supreme Court recognized what has been clear all along: Proposition 50 reflects a political decision, not an unlawful racial gerrymander,” said Tianna Mays, legal director for Democracy Defenders Action.
Marina Jenkins, executive director of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said the GOP drive to redraw election maps had backfired.
“Today’s ruling proves that Trump and Republicans’ shameless gerrymandering has only empowered Democratic states to fight back just as hard,” she said. “Republicans thought they could rig the maps in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina without pushback — but they were sorely mistaken.”
Politics
Noem vows criminal prosecution after catching alleged DHS ‘prolific leaker’
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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday said another “prolific leaker” who disclosed information that put federal law enforcement officers at risk has been caught.
Noem announced the revelation in a post on X.
“I plan to refer this individual to @TheJusticeDept for criminal prosecution,” Noem wrote. “We are agnostic about your standing, tenure, political appointment, or status as a career civil servant—we will track down leakers and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”
NOEM SAYS SHE GRIEVES FOR FAMILY AFTER CBP-RELATED SHOOTING IN MINNEAPOLIS, VOWS THOROUGH INVESTIGATION
Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, is seen during an assumption of command ceremony at the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Luke Johnson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Noem has made the prosecutions of leakers within her agency a top priority as the Trump administration continues its crackdown on illegal immigration.
Weeks after President Trump took office last year, she announced that two people in the Department of Homeland Security have been accused of disclosing DHS operations.
DHS SLAMS DEMS FOR COMPLAINING ABOUT IMMIGRATION LAW: ‘IT IS QUITE LITERALLY THEIR JOB TO CHANGE IT’
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday said another “prolific leaker” had been caught disclosing information that put federal law enforcement officers at risk. (Getty Images/Alex Brandon)
“We have identified two leakers of information here at the Department of Homeland Security who have been telling individuals about our operations and putting law enforcement lives in jeopardy,” Noem said in a video at the time. “We plan to prosecute these two individuals and hold them accountable for what they’ve done.”
“We’re going to continue to do all that we can to keep America safe,” she added.
Fox News Digital has reached out to DHS.
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Noem has said the leaks endanger DHS law enforcement officers, who face an 8,000% increase in death threats against them.
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