Overview
- On Thursday, July 2, 2026, former special counsel Jack Smith gave his first televised interview since resigning and warned the United States faces an attack on the rule of law he called unprecedented in his career.
- Smith said judges no longer trust the reconstituted Justice Department and that this loss of credibility prevents prosecutors from doing the basic work needed to represent the public in court.
- He accused the Trump administration of targeting career prosecutors and FBI agents, including firings linked to FBI Director Kash Patel, and described efforts to strip security clearances from his outside counsel and law firms that represented him.
- Smith said evidence from his two prosecutions — the 2020 election-interference case and the classified-documents case — has been preserved and that he is prepared to relaunch those cases once President Trump leaves office.
- He urged state attorneys general to prepare defensive litigation and asked the public to support election workers, saying proactive legal steps and local defenses are the best protection for the 2026 midterms while DOJ questions persist.