Republicans called Jack Smith to the Senate Judiciary Committee to accuse him of abusing his authority and targeting their party. Then Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island put Smith's subpoenas side by side with what Donald Trump's own Justice Department did during his first term. The department's inspector general found that it secretly went after the phone and email records of two Democratic members of Congress and forty three congressional staffers, with secrecy orders that kept them in the dark. Back then, Chuck Grassley called investigations like that nothing new.

In this video I go through the paper trail behind that comparison, including the part that does not fit neatly. The current Justice Department says Smith's team apparently bypassed a filter team when it reviewed White House text messages involving forty four members of Congress, and that question deserves a real answer. On the phone records and the secrecy orders, though, the record matches almost line for line. I also cover Grassley's full twenty twenty one statement, the basketball accusation from Eric Schmitt that fell apart, and why the same committee has shown no sign of asking for Volume Two of Smith's report.

Volume Two is still sealed under an order from Judge Aileen Cannon, and a federal appeals court in Atlanta is set to hear arguments on it on November second. If you live in Texas, Georgia, or one of about a dozen other states, Monday, October fifth, is the last day to register to vote, so check your status on your state's election office website. Subscribe to follow the appeal, and watch the fact check at the end of the video for every source behind every claim.

#JackSmith #SheldonWhitehouse #ChuckGrassley #SenateJudiciary #Trump #JusticeDepartment #VolumeTwo #AileenCannon #Midterms2026 #VoterRegistration #FactCheck #Politics #Democrats #Congress #News