Le Journal

The old adage that “you get what you pay for” shouldn’t necessarily have a negative connotation. Take, for instance, NYC’s famous “dollar slice,” which locals and tourists have trusted for decades as a reliable and delicious after-hours dinner. more…

On Thursday morning, former special counsel Jack Smith sat before Congress to give his first public testimony about the ultimately fruitless federal indictments he brought in 2023 against prior and now current President Donald Trump. The two indictments, revolving around the handling of classified documents and a wider-ranging election interference case of sprawling scope and consequence, were causalities of the American public appearing to entirely forget the years 2017-2020, and ultimately delivering Trump a get-out-of-jail-free card in the form of a return to the White House. Now it’s Smith who must pay the bill in the form of Republican grilling and threats of indictments of his own, a consequence that the career prosecutor understands all too well. In his opening statement addressing members of the House Judiciary Committee, he issued a stark warning to the American people, essentially telling them not to rely on faith in the “rule of law” to protect them–not when there’s a man in the White House who has zero respect for the sanctity of the law, and an administration that will weaponize that law only when it’s convenient for them to do so. “I have seen how the rule of law can erode,” Smith said. “My fear is that we have seen the rule of law function in this country for so long that many of us have come to take it for granted. But, the rule of law is not self-executing — it depends on our collective commitment to apply it. It requires dedicated service on behalf of others, especially when that service is difficult and comes with costs. Our willingness to pay those costs is what tests and defines our commitment to the rule of law and to this wonderful country.” Smith likewise told members of the committee that he was still of the opinion that his investigations had developed “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump was guilty, and that the former President had “engaged in a criminal scheme” in his attempts to overturn the 2020 Presidential election loss to Joe Biden, among other things. He said that Americans should “never forget” the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and leveled the following general summation of Trump’s lawlessness: “Rather than accept his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power. President Trump attempted to induce state officials to ignore true vote counts; to manufacture fraudulent slates of presidential electors in seven states that he had lost; to force his own Vice President to act in contravention of his oath and to instead advance President Trump’s personal interests; and, on January 6, 2021, to direct an angry mob to the United States Capitol to obstruct the congressional certification of the presidential election and then exploit the rioters’ violence to further delay it.” Special Counsel Jack Smith in his Opening Remarks: --> [image or embed] — Katie Phang (@katiephang.bsky.social) Jan 22, 2026 at 10:44 AM Smith then began the process of shrugging off various slings and arrows from grandstanding GOP members of Congress, who immediately began demonstrating their lack of understanding of basic facts at hand, such as claiming that Smith had charged Trump with “insurrection,” when that was never actually one of the charges brought against the President. Trump was instead charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. Representatives Jim Jordan (OH) and Darrell Issa (CA) took turns characterizing Smith’s indictments of Trump as purely political in nature, done at the behest of figures such as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, which Smith naturally denied. Issa lashed out with the following: “You, like the president’s men for Richard Nixon, went after your political enemies. Maybe they’re not your political enemies, but they sure as hell were Joe Biden’s political enemies, weren’t they? They were Harris’s political enemies. They were the…