{"id":2549056,"date":"2026-01-23T08:48:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T13:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/9-key-moments-from-jack-smiths-congressional-testimony-3\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T08:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T13:51:08","slug":"9-key-moments-from-jack-smiths-congressional-testimony-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/9-key-moments-from-jack-smiths-congressional-testimony-3\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Key Moments From Jack Smith&#8217;s Congressional Testimony"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F9-key-moments-from-jack-smiths-congressional-testimony-3%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2549056&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Former Special Counsel Jack Smith spent more than five hours testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, facing aggressive questioning from Republicans about his handling of investigations into former President Donald Trump.Lawmakers pressed Smith on the circumstances of his appointment-asking why he appears to have been sworn in twice and why he could not recall details about an earlier oath-and on the breadth and cost of his work, which the article says used roughly $35 million in taxpayer funds.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans focused heavily on investigative tactics: Smith confirmed he approved a $20,000 payment to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-curious-case-of-stefan-halper-longtime-zelig-of-american-scandals-who-crossfired-trump\/\" title=\"The Curious Case Of Stefan Halper, Longtime \u2018Zelig\u2019 Of American Scandals Who \u2018Crossfired\u2019 Trump\">confidential human source<\/a> but said he did not no the source&#8217;s identity or whether additional payments were made. Members also probed his team&#8217;s subpoenas of phone records belonging to GOP members of Congress as part of the &#8220;Arctic Frost&#8221; inquiry; Rep. Chip Roy revealed he recently learned his records had been subpoenaed, and rep. Brandon Gill pressed Smith on potential violations of congressional Speech or Debate protections.<\/p>\n<p>Other contested issues included the use of alternate electors in 2020-lawmakers noted past precedents in 1876 and 1960-and the interpretation of Trump&#8217;s call with Georgia Secretary of state Brad Raffensperger about &#8220;finding&#8221; votes. Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan criticized Smith&#8217;s reliance on Cassidy Hutchinson as a witness, calling her testimony discredited, while Democrats such as Rep. Eric Swalwell defended Smith and Rep. Hank Johnson asked whether dismissed indictments could be refiled after Trump leaves office.<\/p>\n<p>The article frames the hearing as a partisan effort to expose what it calls abusive investigative tactics and &#8220;lawfare&#8221; against Trump. It was written by Shawn Fleetwood, a staff writer for The Federalist.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Former Special Counsel <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/jack-smith\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jack Smith<\/a> testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday to field questions about his lawfare against President Donald Trump and egregious investigative tactics. And boy was it a doozy. <\/p>\n<p>Throughout the more-than-<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=EdHfPqCTOgs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">5-hour hearing<\/a>, Republicans pressed Smith on numerous topics, ranging from his questionable appointment to his subpoenaing the phone records of GOP members of Congress as part of his <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/arctic-frost\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Arctic Frost<\/a> probe into Trump. For their part, Democrats did everything imaginable to run interference for Smith and obfuscate his abusive investigations.<\/p>\n<p>In case you missed it, here are the key moments from the hearing. <\/p>\n<h2>Smith&rsquo;s Appointment <\/h2>\n<p><em>Was Smith legitimately sworn in as special counsel before he brought indictments against Trump?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>That&rsquo;s the key question Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/julie_kelly2\/status\/2014397260608540815?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">attempted<\/a> to get an answer to during his questioning of Smith.<\/p>\n<p>The congressman noted how Smith was seemingly &ldquo;sworn in&rdquo; twice &mdash; once in November 2022 and again in September 2023. He specifically asked Smith about his first &ldquo;swearing in&rdquo; in 2023, and interestingly, the witness couldn&rsquo;t recall key details of the alleged event. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Uh, I don&rsquo;t recall the specifics of it. I know I was sworn in [but] I don&rsquo;t recall the specifics of how that was done,&rdquo; Smith said, later adding that he doesn&rsquo;t recall who swore him in or anyone explaining to him why he was sworn in again nearly a year later. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;You signed it on &hellip; November 2022, but there was no witness. Which, I mean, you have to agree, it&rsquo;s a little odd, if there&rsquo;s no witness saying that you took the oath of office, [and] it would maybe make someone like me question whether or not you were legitimately doing the job until you finally took the oath of office,&rdquo; Gooden said. &ldquo;It sounds like [Attorney General Merrick Garland] had the same question and thought, &lsquo;Oh sh-t, we gotta have him sign this on the 14th day of September of the following year.&#8217;&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>As independent reporter Julie Kelly observed, &ldquo;Smith had already brought 3 criminal indictments against [Trump] BEFORE Sept 2023 (a superseding indictment in [his classified documents] case) and signed his name as Special Counsel.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>Not only does it appear, given his body language and answer, that Jack Smith is lying about taking any oath of office (a requirement as an officer of the court), but that Merrick Garland realized the problem and had Smith take an oath in September 2023.<\/p>\n<p>But Smith had already&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Uk4NFaWWM7\">pic.twitter.com\/Uk4NFaWWM7<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&mdash; Julie Kelly &#127482;&#127480; (@julie_kelly2) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/julie_kelly2\/status\/2014397260608540815?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 22, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<h2>Confidential Human Sources<\/h2>\n<p>Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, directed his questioning toward Smith and Co.&rsquo;s use of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/alisondurkee\/2024\/08\/29\/jack-smith-and-doj-have-spent-more-than-35-million-prosecuting-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$35 million<\/a> in taxpayer dollars to target Trump in their lawfare against the then-former president. He specifically homed in on the special counsel&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsmax.com\/newsfront\/patel-informant-pay\/2026\/01\/10\/id\/1241639\/?fbclid=IwY2xjawPffS1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETEyeWV2RWl2Yk9TdG1XcUFOc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHuOlaB2Xm7C6qvPVK1DBngsqtTFDijJa9bw3Tk-0E89TVKAtMgt4aO6iXgs__aem_is5j2ZfNABNfM4OJ0FKsLw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">payment<\/a> of $20,000 to a confidential human source (CHS), and <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Jim_Jordan\/status\/2014389722726957378?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">asked<\/a> Smith, &ldquo;How much of that $35 million of taxpayer money did you give to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wray-declines-to-confirm-fbis-use-of-geolocation-data-to-track-capitol-rioters-but-says-it-would-not-surprise-me\/\" title=\"Wray Declines to Confirm FBI\u2019s Use of Geolocation Data to Track Capitol Rioters But Says It \u2018Would Not Surprise Me\u2019\">confidential human sources<\/a>?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Following a prolonged moment of silence from Smith, Jordan referenced the $20,000 payment and once again asked, &ldquo;How much more money did you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/9-key-moments-from-jack-smiths-congressional-testimony\/\" title=\"9 Key Moments From ...&#039;s Congressional Testimony\">pay confidential people &#038;mdash<\/a>; people we don&rsquo;t know about &mdash; with American tax money, going after the guy we elected president?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Smith confirmed that he &ldquo;approved&rdquo; the $20,000 payment from the FBI to the CHS but said he didn&rsquo;t know the identity of the individual. He further claimed uncertainty about whether additional payments were made to that same CHS or other sources.<\/p>\n<p>The congressman later probed Smith on why his office didn&rsquo;t simply contract with the source &mdash; who was supposedly used to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/9-key-moments-from-jack-smiths-congressional-testimony-2\/\" title=\"9 Key Moments From ...&#039;s Congressional Testimony\">review video evidence &#038;mdash<\/a>; as opposed to making hidden payments to a CHS.<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<h2>Alternate Electors<\/h2>\n<p>One of the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >bigger false narratives central<\/a> to Smith&rsquo;s anti-Trump lawfare (and spread by Democrats) is that the naming of alternate electors in states like Georgia in the 2020 election constituted a &ldquo;fake electors scheme.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But as The Federalist&rsquo;s Margot Cleveland has <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/05\/15\/the-lefts-2020-fake-electors-narrative-is-fake-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pointed out<\/a>, that characterization is simply not accurate. In fact, the naming of Trump electors in contested states during 2020 mirrors what happened in Hawaii during the 1960 election that pitted John F. Kennedy against Richard Nixon.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=EdHfPqCTOgs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">raised<\/a> this point during Thursday&rsquo;s hearing. The congressman asked Smith if the alternate elector situation of 2020 had happened before. Smith acknowledged it did in the 1960 contest, though he claimed it was &ldquo;not anything similar to&rdquo; the 2020 case.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Actually, there&rsquo;s twice that it happened. &hellip; It happened in 1876 and 1960 that these alternate electors happened,&rdquo; Tiffany said, before asking that the 1960 Hawaii case be introduced into the congressional record.<\/p>\n<h2>Swalwell Simps for Smith<\/h2>\n<p>The comedic relief portion of Thursday&rsquo;s hearing was hands down the speaking time given to Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif. As if getting used and abused <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/09\/10\/fang-fangs-boyfriend-eric-swalwell-loses-his-mind-over-trump-cat-memes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">by a Chinese spy<\/a> wasn&rsquo;t debasing enough, the California congressman took it a step further by <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ABC\/status\/2014416217407119453?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">giving<\/a> a proverbial tongue bath to Smith, telling Smith he &ldquo;did everything right.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Mr. Smith, I don&rsquo;t know if I&rsquo;ll ever have the honor to talk to you again. If I don&rsquo;t, please know that I and my colleagues on the Democratic side &mdash; and even my Republican colleagues when they speak privately &mdash; have nothing but respect and appreciation for what you tried to do and how you did it,&rdquo; Swalwell <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/theblaze\/status\/2014392384906305746?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fawned<\/a>. &ldquo;You, unlike many here, are a man of honor.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;Finding&rsquo; 11,000 Votes in Georgia<\/h2>\n<p>One of the <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/09\/georgia-prosecutor-targeting-trump-bases-court-filing-on-fake-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">biggest lies<\/a> parroted about Trump&rsquo;s contesting of the 2020 election has to do with an infamous phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, in which the president expressed his desire to &ldquo;find&rdquo; more than 11,000 votes to overcome Joe Biden&rsquo;s margin of victory in the state. <\/p>\n<p>As The Federalist&rsquo;s Margot Cleveland previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/09\/georgia-prosecutor-targeting-trump-bases-court-filing-on-fake-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">explained<\/a>, &ldquo;Not once during their conversation did Trump ask Raffensperger &lsquo;&ldquo;to find 11,780 votes&rdquo; in the former President&rsquo;s favor.&rsquo; Rather, Trump spoke of his own desire &lsquo;to find 11,780 votes,&rsquo; and did so in the context of highlighting the tens of thousands of illegal votes for which his legal team had ample evidence and they asked merely that the secretary of state review their evidence of illegal voting.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>These facts appeared to matter little to Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga., who attempted to frame the call as an attempt by Trump to &ldquo;prey[] on&rdquo; Republican officials like Raffensperger and use them as potential allies in what she characterized as a &ldquo;criminal scheme&rdquo; designed to &ldquo;overturn the 2020 election.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Gill&rsquo;s Grilling<\/h2>\n<p>Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, conducted an <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BreitbartNews\/status\/2014383075107451225?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">extensive grilling<\/a> of Smith related to his <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/10\/29\/100-times-worse-than-watergate-3-biggest-revelations-from-latest-arctic-frost-document-dump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">subpoenaing<\/a> the phone records of GOP members of Congress. The Texas Republican further underscored how Smith and Co. sought to keep knowledge of these subpoenas from these members and how such conduct <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/12\/01\/new-docs-reveal-jack-smith-intentionally-violated-congressional-republicans-constitutional-rights\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">violated<\/a> their constitutional rights.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>Brandon Gill reduces Jack Smith to a stammering mess by catching him in several lies <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nC3JFaQHhL\">pic.twitter.com\/nC3JFaQHhL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>GILL: You knew there was a risk you were violating the Speech or Debate clause, is that right?<\/p>\n<p>SMITH: The subpoenas we secured were with the concurrence of the Public&hellip;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&mdash; Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartNews\/status\/2014383075107451225?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 22, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<h2>Roy Reveals He Was Targeted by Smith<\/h2>\n<p>Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, may not have been the first Republican to probe Smith about his special counsel&rsquo;s office subpoenaing the phone records of GOP congressional members during Thursday&rsquo;s hearing. But the news he revealed when doing so was nothing short of explosive.<\/p>\n<p>The Texas congressman revealed that he found out a few weeks prior that Smith&rsquo;s team had subpoenaed his phone records as part of the Arctic Frost inquiry.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We called AT&amp;T, and we&rsquo;ve learned that they were given to the Department of Justice, as this email indicates, because I had been in communication with Scott Perry, one of my colleagues here in Congress, who literally had his phone taken from him in front of his family,&rdquo; Roy said. <\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>&#128680;BREAKING NEWS: Rep. Roy reveals in <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JudiciaryGOP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JudiciaryGOP<\/a> hearing that he learned just a FEW WEEKS AGO that his phone records were also subpoenaed by Biden&#8217;s DOJ.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Roy: &#8220;We called AT&amp;T, and we&#8217;ve learned that they were given to the Department of Justice, as this email indicates,&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/KGlqF8tpOK\">pic.twitter.com\/KGlqF8tpOK<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&mdash; Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RepChipRoy\/status\/2014417005571711307?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 22, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Roy later went on to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RepChipRoy\/status\/2014430236226564245?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">blast<\/a> Smith for <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/10\/29\/docs-biden-fbi-subpoenaed-records-of-major-conservatives-gop-groups-as-part-of-get-trump-probe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">targeting<\/a> conservative groups and individuals like the Conservative Partnership Institute and its affiliates (such as Cleta Mitchell) in his Arctic Frost probe.<\/p>\n<h2>Democrat Telegraphs Future Lawfare Against Trump<\/h2>\n<p>Democrats have made little secret about their desire to see President Trump behind bars. So, it wasn&rsquo;t a total surprise when Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga. &mdash; who once <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/guam-capsizing-planted-docs-termite-jewish-settlers-hank-johnsons-wildest-statements\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">expressed<\/a> concerns that the island of Guam would &ldquo;capsize&rdquo; if too many people were on it &mdash; telegraphed that Democrats plan to &ldquo;resurrect&rdquo; their lawfare against the president once he leaves office. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Those indictments [against Trump] have been dismissed. Can they be re-brought or resurrected &hellip; after &hellip; Trump leaves office?&rdquo; Johnson asked Smith.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They were dismissed without prejudice,&rdquo; Smith replied, to which Johnson again asked, &ldquo;So, they can be refiled and he can be prosecuted after he leaves office, is that correct?<\/p>\n<p>Smith declined to &ldquo;speak to that&rdquo; and instead said that he can &ldquo;only speak to what we did, which was dismiss the case without prejudice.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">OBSESSED: Hank Johnson wants Jack Smith&#8217;s J6 case against Trump to be revived after the president leaves office <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Ozu8tWkfiX\">pic.twitter.com\/Ozu8tWkfiX<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartNews\/status\/2014392108811956485?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 22, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<h2>Jordan Eviscerates Key J6 Witness<\/h2>\n<p>Jordan also took the time to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/townhallcom\/status\/2014367326825488491?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lay out<\/a> the <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/12\/20\/new-j6-transcript-contradicts-hutchinsons-claims-trump-went-grand-theft-auto\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">discredited testimony<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/cassidy-hutchinson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cassidy Hutchinson<\/a>, one of Democrats&rsquo; star witnesses on their Jan. 6 Committee, who spread falsehoods about Trump&rsquo;s actions on Jan. 6. He further grilled Smith on Hutchinson&rsquo;s lack of credibility and his use of her as some sort of credible witness.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;You didn&rsquo;t rule out using her &hellip; putting her on the witness stand, when everybody knows she wasn&rsquo;t telling the truth. That says it all,&rdquo; Jordan said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the degree the left and Democrats were willing to go to get President Trump.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>&#128680;Jim Jordan confronts Jack Smith about Cassidy Hutchinson&rsquo;s repeatedly discredited testimony about Trump on Jan. 6:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You didn&rsquo;t rule out using her, putting her on the witness stand, when everybody knows she wasn&rsquo;t telling the truth. That says it ALL. <\/p>\n<p>That&rsquo;s the degree the&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/iKGyFshNXm\">pic.twitter.com\/iKGyFshNXm<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&mdash; Townhall.com (@townhallcom) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/townhallcom\/status\/2014367326825488491?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 22, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<hr>\n<p>      Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jack Smith grilled over Trump probes, phone subpoenas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2549057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Jack-Smith-1.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[64787,32463,32482,71745],"class_list":["post-2549056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-congressional-testimony","tag-jack-smith","tag-special-counsel","tag-testimony-highlights"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Jack-Smith-1.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2549056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2549056"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2549056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2549060,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2549056\/revisions\/2549060"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2549057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2549056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2549056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2549056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}