Trump's Allies in Congress Push For an Investigation Into Former Special Counsel Jack Smith to Help the President Carry Out His Retribution Agenda

Aug 03, 2025

Donald Trump has promised retribution against his political opponents, and now his congressional allies are helping him deliver it, pushing for an investigation into former Special Counsel Jack Smith to punish him for investigating Trump’s crimes.

This NBC News report describes the case with admirable exactness:

Federal officials are investigating former special counsel Jack Smith after President Donald Trump and other prominent Republicans have alleged that his investigations into then-candidate Trump amounted to illegal political activity.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency, confirmed to NBC News on Saturday that it’s investigating Smith for alleged violations of the Hatch Act, a law that prohibits certain political activities by government officials. Trump and his allies have not presented specific evidence of wrongdoing. …
On Wednesday, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., requested that the OSC investigate Smith for “unprecedented interference in the 2024 election.” A source familiar with the matter says the OSC affirmed to Cotton that it is proceeding with its inquiry following his request.

The standard announced by Cotton would ban as “political activity” and “election interference” any investigation of illegal activity by a politically prominent figure. It is yet another attempt to place Donald Trump entirely above the law.

But notice that Trump is still demanding investigations of prominent politicians who oppose him and fantasizing about jailing former President Obama, so this total immunity from investigation and prosecution only applies in one direction.

The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.

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