{"id":2583506,"date":"2026-03-24T21:40:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T01:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cleveland-jack-smith-and-his-lawfare-team-must-be-held-accountable\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T21:43:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T01:43:17","slug":"cleveland-jack-smith-and-his-lawfare-team-must-be-held-accountable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cleveland-jack-smith-and-his-lawfare-team-must-be-held-accountable\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleveland: Smith And His Lawfare Team &#8216;Must Be Held Accountable&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/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%2Fcleveland-jack-smith-and-his-lawfare-team-must-be-held-accountable%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=2583506&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>The prepared testimony by Margot Cleveland, The Federalist\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-facts-on-trumps-lawsuit-against-hillary-clinton-the-dnc-and-more\/\" title=\"The Facts on ...\u2019s ...suit Against Hillary Clinton, the DNC, and More\">senior legal correspondent<\/a>, delivered to a Senate subcommittee during the Arctic Frost: A Modern Watergate hearing, argues that the Arctic Frost investigation revealed grave constitutional violations and partisan bias within the DOJ and FBI.<\/p>\n<p>Key points:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Following the 2020 election, an anti-Trump FBI agent allegedly tried to use the DOJ to undermine the President, which Cleveland says sparked the Arctic Frost operation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Merrick garland appointed Jack Smith as Special Counsel, and Smith indicted trump on a statute tied to Enron-era concerns, based on a theory the Supreme Court later found invalid; the Court than halted the prosecution of Trump for actions within the President\u2019s official duties.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Smith\u2019s team allegedly included partisan Democrats, such as deputies J.P. Cooney and Ray Hulser,illustrating a perceived double standard and political bias in the DOJ and FBI.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Cooney previously drafted an extreme sentencing memo seeking seven to nine years for Trump adviser Roger Stone; after Barr intervened, Cooney spread rumors about political influence, leading to an Inspector General investigation that cleared the Trump Administration but criticized Cooney.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; hulser demonstrated partisan tendencies by refusing to open a Clinton Foundation investigation and by withholding a longer timeline of the Clinton investigation, providing rather a brief summary that omitted references to DOJ\/FBI leadership interference.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; For Trump, Smith\u2019s team drafted a memo to justify subpoenas for toll records of about a dozen members of Congress, despite concerns about Speech or Debate clause protections; they used Sentinel\u2019s \u201cprohibited access\u201d to conceal the details of these subpoenas.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Subpoenas extended to multiple Republican Senators (Blackburn, Graham, Hagerty, Hawley, Lummis, Johnson, Kennedy, Scott, Sullivan, Tuberville) and to Trump\u2019s lawyers and related organizations, such as Turning Point USA, seeking toll and donor facts; Senator cruz avoided a subpoena due to the resistance of his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mark-meadows-sues-nancy-pelosi-and-every-member-of-january-6-committee-unconstitutional\/\" title=\"Mark Meadows Sues Nancy Pelosi and Every Member of January 6 ...: &#039;Un...&#039;\">cell phone provider<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The committee previously heard that Smith sought a non-disclosure order from Judge Boasberg without fully informing him that Congress members were targets; thus, questions have been raised about accountability and possible contempt.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Cleveland argues that the breadth of these actions violated several constitutional protections: Smith\u2019s appointment violated the Appointments Clause; the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >congressional toll-record subpoenas violated<\/a> the speech or Debate Clause; the broad targeting of Republicans and associated groups infringed First Amendment rights; targeting of Trump\u2019s attorneys implicated Sixth Amendment rights; the broad fishing expeditions raised Fourth amendment concerns; and the use of \u201cprohibited access\u201d raised Due Process concerns becuase some materials could remain unseen and unchallengeable.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The author concludes that Smith and his team must be held to account for these alleged violations and overreach.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Margot Cleveland, a journalist and legal analyst, frames these issues as serious constitutional and political overreach within the Arctic Frost investigation.  <\/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><em>The following is the prepared testimony of The Federalist&rsquo;s Senior Legal Correspondent Margot Cleveland <em>for a March 24 hearing titled &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/committee-activity\/hearings\/arctic-frost-a-modern-watergate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Arctic Frost: A Modern Watergate<\/a><\/em><\/em>&rdquo; <em>before the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Chairman Cruz, Ranking Member Whitehouse, and Members of the Subcommittee,&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for the opportunity to testify concerning the grave constitutional violations inflicted as&nbsp;part of the Arctic Frost investigation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After the 2020 election, an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grassley.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/CEG%20to%20DOJ%20FBI%20(WFO).pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">anti-Trump<\/a> FBI agent named Tim Thibault attempted to use the justice&nbsp;department to destroy the President. Thibault&rsquo;s efforts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grassley.senate.gov\/news\/remarks\/grassley-underscores-fbi-supervisor-misconduct-in-trump-targeted-arctic-frost-investigation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">led<\/a> to the launch of Arctic Frost. Soon after, Merrick Garland <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/history-jack-smiths-courtroom-smackdowns-after-landmark-loss-trump-immunity-case\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tapped<\/a> Jack Smith, a &ldquo;hyper-aggressive prosecutor,&rdquo; known to &ldquo;overstretch the&nbsp;meaning and intent of the law,&rdquo; to serve as Special Counsel.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Smith proved himself true to form, indicting Trump for allegedly violating a statute enacted in the&nbsp;aftermath of Enron, based in part on a theory of criminal liability the Supreme Court would later <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/23pdf\/23-5572_l6hn.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hold<\/a> invalid. The Supreme Court would later <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/23pdf\/23-939_e2pg.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">halt<\/a> Smith&rsquo;s efforts to prosecute Trump for actions that fell within the President&rsquo;s official duties.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Beyond being a partisan in his own right, Smith stacked his team with partisan Democrats, such as&nbsp;J.P. Cooney and Ray Hulser. Cooney and Hulser served as Smith&rsquo;s top deputies and in them, we see&nbsp;the clear double standard and political bias that permeated the DOJ and FBI.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Before joining Smith&rsquo;s team, Cooney <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/07\/26\/jack-smiths-anti-trump-deputy-excoriated-for-inappropriate-behavior-at-doj\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">crafted<\/a> an outrageous sentencing memorandum that sought to&nbsp;send Trump advisor Roger Stone to prison for seven to nine years. Cooney&rsquo;s sentencing&nbsp;recommendations were so unhinged that then-Attorney General William Barr intervened. Cooney responded by <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/07\/26\/jack-smiths-anti-trump-deputy-excoriated-for-inappropriate-behavior-at-doj\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">spreading<\/a> unfounded rumors that Barr and the Acting U.S. Attorney &ldquo;were being&nbsp;improperly political,&rdquo; with media leaks furthering that narrative, eventually leading to an Inspector&nbsp;General&rsquo;s investigation: The IG <a href=\"https:\/\/oig.justice.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/reports\/24-081.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cleared<\/a> the Trump Administration but chastised Cooney.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Hulser, for his part, demonstrated his partisan proclivities when he headed up the Public Integrity Section and <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/12\/29\/top-attorney-for-special-counsel-jack-smith-previously-spiked-clinton-foundation-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">refused<\/a> the FBI&rsquo;s request to open an investigation into the Clinton Foundation. But&nbsp;Hulser&rsquo;s partisan protection racket went further when he withheld a detailed six-page timeline of the&nbsp;Clinton Foundation investigation from the then-U.S. Attorney operating out of Little Rock,&nbsp;providing instead an abbreviated 2-page summary that &ldquo;had omitted ALL references to interference from DOJ and FBI leadership.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, when the target was Trump, Hulser, along with Cooney, drafted a memorandum to&nbsp;justify subpoenaing the toll records of about a dozen members of Congress, notwithstanding internal email discussions acknowledging a <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/12\/01\/new-docs-reveal-jack-smith-intentionally-violated-congressional-republicans-constitutional-rights\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">clear<\/a> Speech or Debate Clause problem. They then <a href=\"https:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/press\/rep\/releases\/biden-fbi-spied-on-eight-republican-senators-as-part-of-arctic-frost-investigation-grassley-oversight-reveals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hid<\/a> the details of these subpoenas by using the &ldquo;prohibited access&rdquo; functionality of Sentinel, which&nbsp;ghosts FBI records.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As this Committee well knows &mdash; because many of you were the victims &mdash; Smith approved the&nbsp;subpoenas and obtained the toll records of Senators Blackburn, Graham, Hagerty, Hawley, Lummis,&nbsp;Johnson, Kennedy, Scott, Sullivan, and Tuberville. Only Senator Cruz escaped this invasion into his&nbsp;privacy and the violation of the Speech or Debate clause because his cell phone provider questioned the subpoena.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>From this Subcommittee&rsquo;s January 7, hearing, you also know Smith&rsquo;s team sought a non-disclosure order from Chief Judge James Boasberg &mdash; apparently without informing him the subpoenas targeted members of Congress. I say &ldquo;apparently&rdquo; because, to date, Chairman Cruz&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cruz.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/sen-cruz-chairs-hearing-on-judicial-overreach-urges-impeachment-of-judges-boasberg-and-boardman\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">request<\/a> that the non-disclosure application be unsealed has been ignored.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Here we see yet another double standard, as well as the political weaponization of the Courts: Judge&nbsp;Boasberg has still failed to order that Smith and his prosecutors show cause for why they should not be held in contempt for concealing that members of Congress were the subpoena targets. This fact&nbsp;should not be ignored &mdash; if you are to believe Smith and the Administrative Office of the Courts&rsquo;&nbsp;testimony that Judge Boasberg did not know your identities, then it makes absolutely no sense that Boasberg would not enter a show cause order to hold Smith accountable for violating your rights,&nbsp;given Judge Boasberg&rsquo;s nearly year-long <a href=\"https:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/94466aeb-e8bf-feb0-1eb8-9f68d0fa28b0\/2025-12-03_Testimony_Luther.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">crusade<\/a> to hold a member of the Trump Administration in&nbsp;contempt.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We know now that Smith&rsquo;s violations of the Speech or Debate Clause, rubber-stamped by Judge&nbsp;Boasberg, went further, and that the Arctic Frost team subpoenaed the toll records of the former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, under cover of non-disclosure orders. Add to these subpoenas the hundred or more served on individual Republicans, including Trump&rsquo;s attorneys, as well as Republican organizations such as Charlie Kirk&rsquo;s Turning&nbsp;Point USA &mdash; which sought not merely toll records but also bank records revealing their donor base.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The breadth of these constitutional intrusions is unprecedented, but to recap:&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>First, Smith was unconstitutionally named Special Counsel, in violation of the Appointments Clause.&nbsp;Second, the subpoenas of Congressional toll records violated the Speech or Debate Clause. Third,&nbsp;the vast and unjustified subpoenas to Republicans and related organizations infringed on their First&nbsp;Amendment associational rights. The targeting of Trump&rsquo;s attorneys also implicates his Sixth&nbsp;Amendment right to counsel, while the fishing expedition raises serious Fourth Amendment issues. And the use of &ldquo;prohibited access&rdquo; raises huge Due Process concerns because federal prosecutors&nbsp;cannot possibly provide defendants <em>Brady <\/em>material, if that material is invisible.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Smith and his team must be held accountable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Thank you. I welcome your questions.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Margot Cleveland is an investigative journalist and legal analyst and serves as The Federalist&rsquo;s senior legal correspondent. Margot&rsquo;s work has been published at The Wall Street Journal, The American Spectator, the New Criterion, National Review Online, Townhall.com, the Daily Signal, USA Today, and the Detroit Free Press.     She is also a regular guest on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-alito-freakout-is-a-false-flag-operation-to-take-down-the-court\/\" title=\"Democrats are falsely targeting Alito to undermine the ...\">nationally syndicated radio programs<\/a> and on Fox News, Fox Business, and Newsmax. Cleveland is a lawyer and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, where she earned the Hoynes Prize&mdash;the law school&rsquo;s highest honor. She later served for nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk for a federal appellate judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.      Cleveland is a former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/5-media-lies-about-the-latest-special-counsel-revelations\/\" title=\"5 Media Lies About The Latest ... Revelations\">full-time university faculty member<\/a> and now teaches as an adjunct from time to time. Cleveland is also of counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance.       Cleveland is on Twitter at @ProfMJCleveland where you can read more about her greatest accomplishments&mdash;her dear husband and dear son. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Margot Cleveland details Arctic Frost overreach<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"featured_media":2583507,"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\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-24-at-8.30.28-PM-1024x572.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[8049,10034,16727,7608],"class_list":["post-2583506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-accountability","tag-cleveland","tag-lawfare","tag-smith"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-24-at-8.30.28-PM-1024x572.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2583506","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\/499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2583506"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2583506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2583510,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2583506\/revisions\/2583510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2583507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2583506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2583506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2583506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}