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Representative Jim Jordan made it plain on Hannity that nothing in former special counsel Jack Smith’s closed-door deposition altered his conviction that the prosecutions against Donald Trump were politically motivated. Jordan’s decision to subpoena Smith and press for a private deposition was positioned as necessary oversight of a Justice Department that increasingly looks like an arm of one political party. The exchange on December 17 has already hardened the view among Republicans that these legal actions were less about equal justice and more about partisan outcomes.
Jack Smith, for his part, defended the work of his office and insisted investigators had developed evidence he described as meeting a high criminal standard against Mr. Trump. Smith argued the charges flowed from Trump’s conduct, not his politics, claiming his team found what it called proof beyond a reasonable doubt on key allegations. Those assertions won’t reassure conservatives who watched broad subpoenas sweep up Republican lawmakers, allies, and media organizations under the rubric of investigation.
It’s also an inconvenient truth for Democrats that Smith ultimately dropped both major cases after Trump’s 2024 election victory, citing DOJ policy about indicting a sitting president, a fact that underscores how fragile and contingent these prosecutions were. Conservatives see that sequence as proof the so-called pursuit of justice was intertwined with political timing and prosecutorial discretion. That reality fuels distrust in an institution that is supposed to be blind and impartial.
Republican objections go beyond timing; they point to aggressive investigatory tactics that swept in phone records and communications from GOP lawmakers and other conservative figures. Those broad-brush tactics smelled of the same political overreach that has made many Americans skeptical of the Department of Justice when it targets one side of the aisle. Oversight committees are right to scrutinize whether the line between legitimate law enforcement and partisan lawfare was crossed.
Smith reportedly offered to testify publicly, but the committee pursued a closed-door deposition that guarantees selective leaks and controlled spin rather than full transparency. That choice only reinforces the sense that the process has been managed to produce headlines, not to produce clear answers for the public. Republicans have every right to demand documents, witnesses, and a full accounting of why so many conservative figures were drawn into this probe.
This moment should prompt a serious reckoning about the politicization of federal law enforcement. If the Justice Department is seen as a political tool used to hamstring opponents of the party in power, confidence in the rule of law collapses and the partisan divide deepens. Congress must continue to press for answers, and the American people deserve a plain accounting — not more opaque processes and posturing.
For conservatives, the Smith deposition will not be the end of the story but another chapter in a broader fight to restore neutral, even-handed justice in Washington. Oversight that is vigorous, relentless, and grounded in facts is the corrective this country needs if public institutions are to regain legitimacy. The choice is clear: defend impartial rule of law, or accept a new normal where legal power is wielded as a political weapon.
