Yes, the Jack Smith hearing was a circus. But make no mistake, what Jack Smith did with Operation Arctic Frost should not be ignored, nor minimized.

Currently the media is focusing on Senator Eric Schmitt’s (R-MO) Fani Willis flub during the hearing.

As we all know now, Schmitt totally mixed up the teams and was fact-checked during the hearing. Scott Jennings is correct. That was a rough moment.

Jennings joined Tuesday’s edition of CNN’s The Arena, where he was questioned by host Kasie Hunt over the gaffe.

After hearing from fellow panelist Axios‘ Alex Thompson, who argued that Schmitt “face-plant[ed]” in his questioning, Hunt asked, “Scott, would you concur?”

“Rough moment,” Jennings responded bluntly, to laughter from the panel. “And I say that as someone who likes Eric Schmitt very much. I think he’s been a really good politician and senator in Missouri, so obviously, this was a mistake.”

He went on to say that “what Republicans are really talking about” is their claims that Smith’s investigations were “partisan, that this was a dramatic amount of overstepping.”

“So I think legitimate concerns were aired, even if there was a rough moment on the committee today,” Jennings concluded.

If you read much of the media reports from yesterday and today, the focus is on Schmitt as well as Jack’s “bravery” in standing up to those icky Republicans.

Former special counsel Jack Smith forcefully defended his derailed efforts to prosecute President Donald Trump on Tuesday, telling lawmakers he would not “be silenced by continued threats of prosecution” from the president.

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Smith rejected Republican assertions that his investigations of the then-former president were driven by partisanship or were used to improperly surveil GOP lawmakers during the Biden administration.

He said he stood by his decision to charge Trump in two felony indictments during his years out of office, the first focused on his alleged mishandling of classified documents and the second on his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Everyone? Please clap for Jack.

One of the things that Jack is claiming is that the National Archives raised the alarm and were the impetus of starting this criminal investigation. Except that was NOT the case. There was no criminal referral from the National Archives!

“Here is the official PIN response to us after we had that meeting with them last week which we briefed you on. FBI and AUSA Jay Bratt (DOJ-NSD) are handling matter 1 and according to the FBI (who I spoke to last late last week) matter 1 is being handled as a ‘spillage’ which sounded like there is little likelihood of being pursued as a criminal matter,” a NARA official sent to the DOJ in February 2022 about Trump’s possession of classified documents.

“Thank you for the email, Waleska and Jason. I appreciated you taking the time to discuss these matters in more detail in our virtual meeting this afternoon,” another email from the DOJ to FBI and NARA officials read.

“Based on the allegations as set forth below and as supplemented by our virtual meeting, Matters 1, 2, and 3 are not matters for which PIN would open a criminal investigation at this time. If you develop additional evidence related to these allegations, especially as to the contents of the underlying documents or any evidence,” it continued about the potential case.

Yet here comes Jack with his agenda and opens a criminal investigation anyway. An investigation that went far beyond the scope of just President Trump. Phone records of WH staffers, Senators, Congressmen/women, reporters, and conservative organizations were gathered up and scrutinized. When I say phone records, I mean..their text messages. There was absolutely ZERO reason for him to do so.

I'm sickened by this news that my journalistic communications were obtained as part of Jack Smith's egregious misconduct.

Proud to have been one of the only journalists who debunked his agency's role in perpetrating the Russia collusion lie against the American people.

No… https://t.co/IwSf6t7vRj

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) September 29, 2026

Mollie as well as the rest of the folks at The Federalist are understandably pissed off. There are legitimate due process and First Amendment concerns with Jack’s targeting of the media during this investigation. Something that media such as the Washington Post above, and the New York Times don’t seem to have a problem with.

Here’s another revelation from yesterday’s hearing. Nearly FIVE THOUSAND Americans were surveilled. As in, Smith went after donors to President Trump’s campaign. Donors across all 50 states. I’m not talking just looking at the campaign reports. I’m talking about the fact that Jack got his hands on their CHECKS.

WHISTLEBLOWERS: “Thousands of Americans across all 50 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, who donated as little as $1 to President Trump and Trump-aligned Republican entities had their checks secretly subpoenaed by Special Counsel Jack Smith and his team”… https://t.co/5iiZKDsXJ3 pic.twitter.com/7boyRCY6xW

— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) September 29, 2026

4,782 checks were gathered up by Jack Smith. Most of those donors gave anywhere from $5-10 to the Trump campaign.

These are checks from hardworking Alabamians who donated to President Trump. Jack Smith subpoenaed them and turned over their personal information, including their home addresses, to the Biden DOJ.

It’s despicable. Jack Smith and the Biden DOJ blatantly targeted conservatives,… pic.twitter.com/DLnamBnv7d

— Senator Katie Boyd Britt (@SenKatieBritt) September 29, 2026

Jack Smith and the DOJ had absolutely zero reason for going after Americans who donated to President Trump’s campaign. None.

To recap, Jack Smith’s very partisan investigation involved the following

1. Subpoenaing phone records and text messages of nearly 20% of the Republicans in Congress
2. Gathering records and actual text messages of members of the media including The Washington Post, New York Times, AP, CNN, The Federalist, and more
3. Seizing donor checks from Americans who donated to Trump, and investigating them through their banking and addresses that were on the checks.

There was no reason for this investigation. Just because the indictment was dismissed, doesn’t mean that Jack Smith should walk away scot free. There should be consequences for this. There must be. Otherwise, we all lose.

Feature Photo Credit: Tomas/flickr/cropped/Creative Commons/Ben Longstroth/flickr/cropped/Public Domain