Trump declares Jack Smith 'guilty' over newly released DOJ records

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump escalated his attacks on former special counsel Jack Smith by declaring him "GUILTY!" while pointing to newly released Justice Department records that Republicans said contradict Smith's previous congressional testimony about reviewing lawmakers' text messages.

The post quickly renewed Republican accusations that Smith's investigation crossed constitutional lines. Trump tied the records to his longstanding claims that the Justice Department had been "weaponized" against him and his allies.

Trump cites DOJ records in fresh attack

Writing on Truth Social on Sunday, July 19, Trump posted, "GUILTY! Jack Smith spied on me in Congress — this illegal weaponization needs to end."

He also shared an opinion article by Rep Elise Stefanik, R-NY, who argued that newly declassified DOJ records confirmed Smith's office "unlawfully and unconstitutionally accessed" her private text messages along with those of 43 other members of Congress.

Stefanik wrote that the records showed Smith's team "illegally accessed the content" of lawmakers' messages after obtaining them during investigations tied to Trump.

She further alleged that when House lawmakers later asked Smith under oath whether his office had viewed "the content of text messages," he answered, "No."

"It was a lie," Stefanik wrote, adding that "knowingly making false statements to Congress is a federal crime."

She also claimed the newly released documents proved that "the sweeping weaponization is wide and deep" and called for "criminal consequences" for those responsible.

Republicans seize on newly released documents

The records, released by the Justice Department to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, showed Smith's office accessed communications between Trump White House personnel and 44 members of Congress from both parties, the New York Post reported. 

Among those whose messages were viewed were Grassley, Sen Susan Collins, Sen Tom Cotton, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Rep Elise Stefanik, Sen Cory Booker, former Rep Karen Bass, Rep Adam Smith and former Rep Lee Zeldin, the report stated.

According to the records, an Aug 21, 2023, internal DOJ email discussed obtaining "54 excel files with text messages from White House phones," while separate documents outlined procedures requiring investigative materials to pass through a designated filter team before reaching prosecutors.

Grassley says Smith's team bypassed filter process

Assistant Attorney General Patrick Davis told Grassley that Smith's investigative team "bypassed the Filter Team and directly accessed these text messages," with the FBI later identifying the phone numbers involved, the report said.

Grassley said the findings suggested investigators "apparently ignored their own routine investigative protocols to obtain and review work-related messages from me and dozens of my Republican and Democrat colleagues who were outside the scope of the government's investigation."

Sen Ron Johnson, R-Wis, called the disclosures "yet another grotesque example of the Biden administration's weaponization of the Justice Department," adding that "no one should be shocked by Jack Smith's recklessness and blatant abuse of power, but they should be outraged."

The records also state that the messages reviewed were exchanged between October 2020 and Jan 20, 2021, and involved communications with Trump administration officials including Mark Meadows, Dan Scavino, Ivanka Trump, Stephen Miller, Peter Navarro, John Ratcliffe, Kash Patel, Rudy Giuliani, Kellyanne Conway and then-Vice President Mike Pence, the report said.