Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said on Newsmax that former special counsel Jack Smith "gave that game up" during a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday, arguing the testimony exposed what Roy called a "politically motivated, politically charged" effort to get President Donald Trump that swept up conservatives, members of Congress, and private citizens.
Roy appeared on "Newsmax At This Hour" after Smith testified publicly before Congress for the first time about his investigations into Trump.
"First of all, I give credit to Chairman Jim Jordan, who did a great job exposing the political nature of what Jack Smith was up to," Roy said.
Roy pointed to questioning about Smith's outreach to witness Cassidy Hutchinson, who allegedly provided false testimony to the Select Committee on Jan. 6, and said Jordan pressed Smith on "the absurdity of relying on her testimony, in particular as the basis for so much of what Jack Smith was doing."
Roy said his focus was not only on lawmakers but also on "regular American citizens."
"What I was trying to make clear was not just the extent to which Jack Smith was targeting members of Congress. We've known that," Roy said. "I obviously revealed today that they had targeted me. We suspect that they've targeted many others."
He said investigators also "targeted regular American citizens, people who were targeted simply because they're conservative, conservative activists."
Roy named conservative-aligned organizations and individuals as examples, saying, "Maybe they're with the Conservative Partnership Institute, maybe they're with America First Policy Institute, maybe Cleta Mitchell, who I referenced in the questioning of Jack Smith."
"So this was politically motivated, politically charged," he said. "Jack Smith basically gave that game up today in the hearing, and I'm glad that we were able to expose that to the American people."
Roy said the hearing should lead to action.
"But the American people want us to act. They want to see action out of this," he said. "And I hope we'll be able to keep pursuing this, to see what the Department of Justice can do with more information that we're exposing."
Roy also criticized Smith's handling of the classified records case involving Trump, saying, "That was tossed out in '24," and alleging that Smith "kept prosecuting and kept filing documents and signing documents even though he'd been tossed."
Asked what accountability Smith should face, Roy said, "I think the Department of Justice needs to look at the motivations of Jack Smith, needs to look at the extent to which he was relying on information he knew to be unreliable, was politically charged, and then was going after members of Congress in violation of the Speech and Debate Clause."
In a Truth Social post Thursday afternoon, Trump wrote that Smith was being "DECIMATED" by Judiciary Committee Republicans and suggested he hoped Attorney General Pam Bondi was examining Smith's conduct.
"If he were a Republican, his license would be taken away from him, and far worse!" Trump wrote of Smith. "Hopefully, the Attorney General is looking at what he's done, including some of the crooked and corrupt witnesses that he was attempting to use in his case against me," Trump said.
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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