Below is my column in The Hill on the appearance of Jack Smith in a “No Kings” T-Shirt just days after his testimony on Capitol Hill, claiming to have had no bias or agenda against Trump. Smith must have known that his presence and dress at the “Power to the People” concert would be widely circulated on the Internet. His message was clear, but entirely unnecessary given his record as Special Counsel.
Here is the column:
After his recent congressional testimony, former Special Counsel Jack Smith appeared at a “Power to the People Fest” sporting a “No Kings” T-shirt. Aside from a midlife crisis, the most likely explanation is that Smith wanted to send a message, reaffirming his bona fides as an anti-Trump warrior.
It was a Comey moment, but without the seashells.
The Power to the People Fest featured many whom Smith has long cultivated in the “Democracy-is-Ending” crowd. The organizers billed the event as “working to restore and strengthen democracy” and featured some of Trump’s loudest critics.
The top billing went to Bruce Springsteen, who has lately turned his concerts into anti-Trump rave sessions, including comparing Trump officials to “Gestapo” and calling the administration “treasonous.” He continued those attacks at the concert with Smith, denouncing Trump as “lawless” and his administration as murderers.
For his part, Tom Morello, the chief organizer of the rally, has called Trump and his administration “fascists” and leading crowds in chants of “F— Trump.”
And there was Smith in his own “No Kings” tee shirt.
It was a particularly inopportune time, as new evidence on Capitol Hill showed how Smith not only seized phone records of Republican members of Congress, but tracked communications with Trump’s attorney.
Smith has always been undone by his excessive appetite and his habitual failure to respect the limits on his authority. He has a history of losing major cases by advancing excessive and abusive legal claims. This included his stinging defeat in a unanimous Supreme Court decision dismantling his case against former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R).
During the Trump investigation, Smith showed that he had learned nothing from his losses. Indeed, former Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith with full knowledge of his past disregard for constitutional limits.
Smith richly deserves to be criticized for his unrelenting attack on free speech protections as well as his decision to file a second case focusing on the 2020 election. And the unfolding details of how Smith seized the telephone records of Republican members of Congress, including those investigating his own conduct, only confirm suspicions that Smith wanted to bag Trump at any cost. That included seeking to curtail appeals and rush prosecutions before the 2024 election. Smith failed when Trump chose to run despite the lawfare, and he failed again when Trump handily won the election. But Smith’s obsession was so consuming that he was willing to try Trump right up to Inauguration Day.
The new details of Smith’s investigation should outrage members of both parties. The use of pen registers (to identify the destination of outbound calls and messages) and of trap and trace orders (for incoming) entirely disregarded longstanding rules protecting the legislative branch from such encroachments. And what is particularly alarming is that these searches were obvious fishing expeditions — these were not focused searches on specific wrongdoing, like the searches involving the corruption case against Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) 20 years ago.
In addition to members of Congress, Smith and his team monitored the activities of Trump’s legal defense team, journalists and campaign advisers. That includes now-White House chief of staff Susie Wiles’ phone. At the same time, Smith secured a non-disclosure order from the court that prevented mobile carriers from notifying the affected lawmakers that they were being spied on. Thus, as members were looking into Smith’s excesses, they were not told that he was receiving and poring over their telephone records.
The White House Government Transparency Task Force released material this week showing that Smith’s team used an investigation codenamed “Plasmic Echo” to engage in an untethered fishing expedition. Notably, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco signed off on the sweeping seizure with no apparent effort to address obvious constitutional concerns over the right to counsel and Article I powers. Once again, Garland was entirely passive and simply endorsed the recommendations of those around him.
FBI Director Christopher Wray sent a March 2022 memo to Garland and Monaco seeking the attorney general’s approval to launch Plasmic Echo. Monaco added her endorsement before Garland signed off.
FBI investigators traced “Wiles’ phone calls and text messages with at least 21 lawyers affiliated with Trump, numerous campaign staff, political advisors, and at least five journalists from at least February to May 2023.”
This investigation also involved gathering intelligence on Trump’s political action committee, including its donors and campaign expenses.
Smith and the FBI continued the aggressive posture even as agents were balking at some of these means, including those who felt that the raid on Mar-a-Lago was unnecessary to resolve the concerns over the classified material.
Smith has continued to portray himself as unbiased and not motivated in any way by the election: “Anybody who has worked with me and knows me during the course of my career knows that I would not let politics play a role,” he has said.
But shortly afterward, he appeared in his No Kings tee shirt at the Power to the People fest. It was vintage Smith — an almost mocking arrogance in the face of growing criticism over his methods and partisanship.
The irony is that Smith was a better fit as a member of this profanity-spewing anti-Trump crowd than he ever was as special counsel. The pretense was gone, and he was finally in his element. In that sense, he might view this as his coming-out party, but Smith actually came out years ago.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the New York Times best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
Looking at what I presume is a poster for the show, sure, sure. They aren’t communists. Nope, not at all. Pathetic and disappointing, and the fact that people are now confusing communism or collectivism with democracy kind of says everything about those people. Sad. Just, sad. Especially considering every single one of them is richer than God, and got that way through the opposite of a totalitarian society. Plot=lost. So much for counter culture.
Alleges the blog’s Deceiver: “. . . you keep harping that I’m ‘lying’ without actually pointing to a single factually incorrect thing I’ve posted on this topic.”
How about two things:
The Deceptive One: “What would be even more interesting would be when Judge Cannon releases volume II of his investigation, you know, the one Trump is working very hard to keep away from public view.”
Judge Cannon *permanently* blocked its release in February of this year. So there is nothing for Trump to work on.
You are now free to “massage” your words to make them fit reality.
Sam
A respectful correction Judge Cannon is a woman. There is no there there for Smith’s case. What is glaring is the evidence of conspiracy of a seditious Obama/Biden/Clinton coup. Treason and corruption of the highest order.
Thanks for the “respectful” nod. The “his” pronoun was used by the Deceiver, and is actually correct. I left out the part of the quote where you can see that the “his” refers to Smith.
Sam,
It’s always a little embarrassing when someone confidently claims a case is “permanently” closed while fundamentally misunderstanding how the federal appellate court system works. But in the real world of legal procedure, a district judge’s “permanent” order is only as permanent as the next appellate court allows it to be.
If you had been paying attention past the February headlines, you would know that watchdog groups like the Knight First Amendment Institute and American Oversight immediately appealed her block. That active legal battle is currently playing out in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, with oral arguments explicitly scheduled to move forward.
So yes, Trump’s legal team is still actively working—submitting briefs and fighting tooth and nail in the higher courts—to prevent the Eleventh Circuit from overturning Cannon’s order and forcing that volume into the public eye.
No “massaging” of words required here. I’m operating on the live, active appellate docket. You are operating on a February press release. Try to keep up.
@X
No, George, you are embarrassing. So are the likes of Springsteen or Morello, he’they’re about as in touch with working class as a hockey puck in a basketball game. By all means, share, but don’t be alarmed when most of us already know you’ve been trolling this blog for years and largely ignore you for the most part. You are either very bored, or very paid.
Sure wish we could edit our typos. Oh, well.
Don’t worry, we already know its a mental defect, that you daily exhibit.
James,
It is always a surefire sign of an intellectual surrender when someone completely abandons the actual legal facts and resorts to checking my comment history like a resentful ex.
Notice how you couldn’t muster a single sentence to dispute the fact that the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals is actively reviewing Judge Cannon’s block. You couldn’t provide a single counterargument to the fact that the DOJ used standard, court-approved pen registers for metadata, nor could you prove that Susie Wiles’ phone was ever wiretapped.
Instead, you had a complete meltdown about Bruce Springsteen, Tom Morello, and how long I’ve been posting on this blog.
I’m flattered that you think I must be getting paid to point out…facts.
X-
not sure why you wished to create a perception of “live, active” special knowledge, i.e., “I’m operating on the live, active appellate docket,” when in fact, the entire schedule is available to any Larry Moe and Curly person as well as multiple media networks.
(For those not wanting to bother, the “hearing” alluded to by X is currently scheduled for November 2.)
There is no “special knowledge” required here, just basic reading comprehension and the ability to check an active court calendar.
then why didn’t you tell us when the scheduled date was, instead of creating this aura of special access. You POS phony, you probably did not even know the actual date, just read something from Google or Law and Crime posts. THe more you open your mouth, the more water you swallow that pulls you under.
I didn’t realize I needed to spoon-feed you the exact calendar date of a public appellate docket.
I made the mistake of assuming you were smart and understand basic reading comprehension.
OMG!
I am the one who gave George/X the date of oral argument!
He pretends he didn’t want to “spoon-feed” us with the date.
OMG! little liar X with his cap gun tries to hit!
You’re not making any sense. Why would you ask for a court date when you already allegedly gave it?
How is that a lie BTW?
a. No one asked you for a court date. You simply pretended to know. Don’t make up facts or arguments.
b. you DIDn’t know have the date until it was later produced by someone else.
c. you then lied and said the reason you did not mention the date was because you didn’t want to “spoon-feed” readers. THat, in itself, is a joke because the info is readily available to anyone , including clowns like you. Hilarious, cute, and LOL, x.
d. this is another example of you being a chronic liar.
e. your favorite and outstandingly repetitive “substantive” responses to criticism of your truthfulness are simpleton flings like “no reading comprehension” or “you’re not making any sense” or “I thought you were smarter than that.”
We are smarter. we possess reading comprehension. we do make sense. As S. Meyer notes, you are a chronic nobody jumping on the spot every morning to try and discredit Turley. Your lack of SUBSTANTIVE legal knowledge belies your pretense of knowledge, which is frequently incorrect.
f. Anything else you want to ask me, clown?
You are genuinely furious that I didn’t type out “November 2nd” in my initial reply. I said I was operating on the live appellate docket—which is a fact, because the case is currently active in the Eleventh Circuit. The fact that you two think knowing a publicly listed hearing date constitutes “pretending to have special access” just proves how utterly clueless you are about how the legal system works. To a layman, basic literacy looks like magic.
You claim I “didn’t know” the date. Remember, your original claim was that Judge Cannon’s order was permanent and that there was nothing for Trump’s team to work on. By screaming, “Look, the date is November 2nd!”, you literally proved my exact point: the case is active, and Trump’s team is actively working on it. Thanks for the assist.
You complain that I call out your lack of reading comprehension. But when you get caught red-handed claiming a case is completely dead, get corrected by an active appeal, and your only defense is to cry about when the calendar date was mentioned—that isn’t a legal argument. That is a reading comprehension failure.
You can type out all the bullet points you want and call me a “clown” to make yourself feel better, but the record stands: you said the case was over, I told you it wasn’t, and you had to go look up the active schedule to prove me right.
X
In typical fashion, you responded below (@1:17) to the wrong anonymous. I am not the anonymous that “Judge Cannon’s order was permanent and that there was nothing for Trump’s team to work on.” I also am not the one who said the “case is completely dead” IN fact, there is likely more than two who are responding to your childish lashing-outs. But you silly accusations, like “By screaming, ‘Look, the date is November 2nd!” are all the same and lacking in truth, no matter to whom they are addressed. Which makes you a liar to me, also, so that makes three of us, at least, who call you out for your frustrated, juvenile pretense. Leave it, X. No more.
Sure, whatever you say. Perhaps you should stick to having a name or handle to avoid….confusion. It’s easy and with the new posting format it’s more user friendly. Give it a try.
“I’m operating on…?”
HA HA HA HA
Gotta love it when Anonymous literally argues with himself in comment thread after comment thread in a moron vs moron comedy of absurdities.
I agree.
Gotta love it when silly Steve literally talks to himself in his comments. Then George shows up, its becomes morn to moron. .
Well Steve, looks like ou really are a moron.
Anon is most definitely living rent free in your puny head. Game set and match for anon!
I’m pretty happy that the chief complaint the left has come up with here, on this post, is that it’s rehashing the old news that Smith is a treasonous worm.
Yeah, we’re still talking about it. It’s not over. Many bigshot leftys are squirming, waiting for a knock on the door.
Looks like Omar got that door knock this morning.
On November 15, 2022, Trump announced his candidacy.
On November 18, 2022, Garland announced the appointment of Jack Smith.
Some people have a high tolerance for coincidence.
DOJ had been investigating J6 and Trump’s actions related to it so when he announced his candidacy there was conflict that made the appointment of a special counsel appropriate.
This comment section ought to embarrass anyone willing to excuse an abuse of government power.
We should all be able to recognize the line government cannot cross and agree that anything beyond it is unacceptable, regardless of who’s involved.
We can debate whether that line was crossed. That’s what evidence is for. Everything else is politics.
But getting distracted by a T-shirt while brushing aside serious questions about government abuse of power? That’s embarrassing.
Included in the evidence is the part of the report that Judge Cannon, Trump, and the DOJ are desperate to see is never released. I remember when Reagan famously he paid for the microphone during a debate (only partially true but he had a point). The American people paid for that investigation and deserved to know the results.
@enigma
By all means, present your evidence supporting that so we can talk about it.
I suspect, as always, you won’t. You are another years’ long troll, and we don’t even know if you are even actually black. You never verify anything, and it’s pretty tiresome. Yawn.
Yeah, would also like to see that evidence. Delusional and black is no way to go through life.
You are completely right that the discussion should focus on actual evidence of government abuse rather than a t-shirt. The problem is that the “serious questions” being asked in this thread are completely detached from legal reality.
If we are going to debate whether a line was crossed based on evidence, we have to look at what the evidence actually shows:
What is actually embarrassing is watching people scream “abuse of power” over routine, judicially sanctioned legal processes just because they don’t like the target of the investigation. If a federal judge reviews evidence, finds probable cause, and signs a subpoena for metadata, the government hasn’t “crossed a line”—it is following the exact legal procedures established by the Constitution.
Getting distracted by manufactured rumors to avoid looking at the actual legal facts is just as bad as getting distracted by a t-shirt. It’s all just politics designed to replace evidence with outrage.
Still living in a fantasy word Olly.
Once again, Turley, the free speech advocate, has a problem with how a citizen expresses himself. How odd. A true free speech advocate would celebrate Smith’s right to express himself in such a way.
Ah, the first insincere comment. We are not dictating Smith’s wardrobe here. It’s the fact that Smith has now publicly declared his political opposition to Trump.
In fact I ENCOURAGE Jack Smith to use his free speech rights and dig himself in more as the political hack he is.
Do you not know that other humans can detect insincerity so poorly veiled? We know you don’t think we are just critcizing his T-shirt message.
T-shirt and sea shell speech is for cowards. insincerity is for cowards. Just say it Mr. Insincere.
@Anonymous–
As I read the column, Prof. Turley is <b> NOT,</b> in any way, challenging Smith’s right to express himself by wearing a tee-shirt (or by any other means that Smith might choose). Turley is merely pointing out that by wearing a “No Kings” shirt, Smith is merely confirming what everybody with half a brain already knew: That Smith was squarely in Biden’s and Garland’s pockets from the get-go.
@All responsible commenters–
I inadvertently posted the foregoing comment anonymously, something that I eschew. It should have been posted under my nom de guerre, “DrZee.” My sincere apologies. I’m not used to this new format, so I will doubtless make even more errors in the future before I figure it out.
Whoops, I screwed it up again!
@Anonymous–
As I read the column, Prof. Turley is <b> NOT,</b> in any way, challenging Smith’s right to express himself by wearing a tee-shirt (or by any other means that Smith might choose). Turley is merely pointing out that by wearing a “No Kings” shirt, Smith is merely confirming what everybody with half a brain already knew: That Smith was squarely in Biden’s and Garland’s pockets from the get-go.
Read the column again
The diplomatic incompetence of the President on full display today as his announcement of an energy truce agreed to by Putin is shown to be meaningless vaporware, Prof. Turley raising the sword of infowarfare to attempt to discredit Jack Smith falls entirely flat. We have a problem.
It’s a self-aggrandizing dealmaker who doesn’t believe signed agreements are necessary, who doesn’t even require a public statement from each party to a deal backing it verbally. The deal is nothing more than wishful thinking in his head. Are we going to lower our expectations to tolerate that level of self-deceit? What does turning our gaze away say about our standards for leadership clarity and authenticity?
This is totally embarrassing to the United States. Who cares what Jack Smith wore to a concert?
Pbinca, what is hilarious is Trump’s assertion he secured several hundred thousand tons of diesel from Putin. They used ‘tons’ instead of gallons. Why? Because several hundred thousand tons will only last….30 mins at current consumption rates. It won’t affect diesel prices at all.
Trump is asking Putin for diesel because we have exhausted our ‘cushion’ in order to maintain lower prices. Refineries are at full capacity cranking out diesel as much as possible and it’s still not enough to affect prices.
Pb
Please tell me that you can’t be this dense not to see that a simple announcement of a diesel supplemental source affects the market. That’s the reasoning aside from Ukraine targeting Russian refineries that supply fuel to Europe, especially as winter comes. Anything for a TDS jab?
It doesn’t affect it at all. That’s why it’s stupid. Announcing he’s procuring hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel instead of millions of gallons which is not the same thing. We go through hundreds of thousands of tons in very short order. The first shipment will last less than a day’s worth at current consumption rates.
I will add my previous assertion was inaccurate. It was not 30 minutes. Trump’s Russian diesel will last less than a day.
We consume 3.7 million barrels of diesel a day. 300,000 tons of diesel is just 2.25 million barrels or 15hrs worth of fuel used at current consumption rates. It won’t make a lick of a difference in price.
Announcing he’s procuring hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel instead of millions of gallons which is not the same thing.
Hey, genius, 100,000 tons is much more than 1,000,000 gallons! In fact it’s more than 30,000,000 gallons!
weird
Republicans go to jail for NO Crime
Democrats don’t go to jail for Obvious Crime
why?
Republicans end all the investigations when they get in office and pardon the rest of their friends.
Democrats end them before they begin.
Oh oh raging blackman onboard!
Please, may noone forget that Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith. Merrick Garland, the same Attorney General who also created a nationwide joint task force including the FBI and local and state law enforcement, to chill parents’ free speech at school board meetings. And may noone forget that Joe Biden appointed Merrick Garland. And may noone forget that Joe Biden was a figurehead for powers behind the scene … powers who told him what to say, where to stand, and what to sign. Jack Smith is a mere symptom. May everyone remember all this, when voting in the midterms.
Rehashing old news again eh Steve? Is there a point in there, somewhere, anywhere?
Anonymous,
You’re right. I am “rehashing old news again” … “old news” that some people want everyone to forget. But “news” is “history” in the making. And those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
Bedside being an ambulance chaser, now you’re trying for the philosophers title.
Anonymous,
Thank you for the compliment.
It’s amusing that the same people who are still invoking J6 at every opportunity 6 years later now complain that Jack Smith’s obvious bias is old news.
Oh hell yeah – Old Jack(ass) is about to announce his DSA candidacy for Congress! This clown is all about Showboating during his career which is why he took all the political “corruption” cases he could get his hands on – he wanted airtime on the 6 o’clock news. Too bad many were overturned based on Old Jack’s stretching of the law (in Jack’s World) but what the hell do facts have to do with his zealous prosecutions right? Just get the WIN and claim victory as quick as possible and ignore the higher courts.
What is interesting is Professor Turley didn’t go into detail about the recent hearing. Especially after a very embarrassing attempt by Republicans to entrap him on a “lie.” What would be even more interesting would be when Judge Cannon releases volume II of his investigation, you know, the one Trump is working very hard to keep away from public view.
Smith already claimed he had proof beyond reasonable doubt president Trump committed a serious crime with regard to the classified documents case and the 2020 election.
The professor seems to be quite intent on pushing these wild narratives to maintain the ‘rage’ among MAGAs and certain republicans still stuck on Trump’s discredited and debunked claims.
It’s already looking dire for Republicans this midterm and it’s clear they have don’t have anything to campaign on besides old rehashed culture war issues nobody cares about, especially with Trump’s disaster of an economy. Even MAGA farmers are livid about Trump abandoning them for political expediency and saving himself.
Smith attending a concert and wearing a t-shirt supporting a cause long after he’s finished his investigation and is now a private citizen has no relevance to what he did while on the job. Turley is just looking for an excuse to rile up MAGA nuts and incite some…’rage’.
This is George: What is interesting is Professor Turley didn’t go into detail about the recent hearing.
Response: Turley typically posts opinions that are about 1,000 words. George thinks he’s uncovering something sinister. If anyone is a liar here, it’s George X.
Uncovering something sinister? Please. I’m simply pointing out Professor Turley’s blatantly false narratives and persistent disingenuousness. Like I always say, his public commentary makes him fair game.
But I love how you keep harping that I’m ‘lying’ without actually pointing to a single factually incorrect thing I’ve posted on this topic. It’s a cute deflection strategy, but shouting ‘lie!’ into the void doesn’t magically make you right. What exactly is the lie? I’ll wait, though I won’t hold my breath while you scramble to find one.
Simply? Sure Georgie whatever you say you wackjob. Keep the lies coming.
From George: blatantly false narratives and persistent disingenuousness.
You have yourself down to a tee man.
“Tee”? Very cute, but you might want to master the English language before trying to use it as an insult. The phrase is ‘down to a T’. A ‘tee’ is a piece of plastic you stick into turf at a golf course—which, ironically, is exactly where your swing-and-a-miss of an insult belongs LOL!
X –
You are the gift that never disappoints. The amount of “classified documents” found at Mar a Lago is roughly a thin single file folder. They were intentionally spread on the floor to appear to be much more than actually existed (hysterically this is the exact reason the case was bounced, they didn’t put them back in the correct location!).
Compare that to the amount that other Presidents (and non-presidents, cough Biden cough) have possessed or even still possess it is miniscule. Illegal? Maybe. Trump claims he declassified them. Smith claims he didn’t. It would’ve been an interesting trial as there’s no formal definition of how a President “declassifies”.
The midterms will be interesting. Public polls show the normal wave for the party not in power. Yet Democrats are in full on panic mode and begging for money from their donors. That reeks of a party that has internal polling showing different information than the public polls.
But the more you post, the more you help with GOTV for the GOP! Please Continue!
DW,
Let’s walk through the actual legal facts and evidence of this case, because your narrative is completely detached from reality.
First, your claim that the classified documents amounted to “roughly a thin single file folder” is a total fabrication. Federal investigators recovered over 300 classified documents from Mar-a-Lago. The FBI’s court-approved August search alone yielded 33 boxes containing more than 100 documents marked classified, including 18 marked “Top Secret”—the highest level of government classification.
Additionally, your claim that the case was “bounced” because agents “didn’t put them back in the correct location” is not only stupid but also legally illiterate. The case was dismissed by Judge Aileen Cannon based on a highly controversial ruling regarding the constitutionality of Jack Smith’s appointment, not a clerical error over document placement. If the case had actually gone to trial, the evidence against Trump was overwhelming:
This brings us to your attempt to compare Trump’s actions to Joe Biden’s. Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report explicitly detailed why the cases were entirely different. When Biden’s team discovered a small number of records, they immediately self-reported the find, consented to voluntary FBI searches of multiple properties, and fully cooperated with the Justice Department. Trump, conversely, ignored subpoenas for months, resisted repeated legal requests from the National Archives, directed his aides to shuffle boxes to evade detection, and allegedly lied to federal authorities. As Assistant Special Counsel David Harbach noted, Trump engaged in a “suite of willful and deceitful criminal conduct” that no other figure has ever matched.
Finally, your pivot to political conspiracy theories about “internal polling panic” is the standard defense mechanism when the legal facts don’t favor your candidate. If you think exposing clear evidence of obstruction of justice and the mishandling of our nation’s defense secrets is a “gift” for the GOP’s get-out-the-vote efforts, by all means, keep celebrating. But the live court dockets and declassified files don’t care about your public relations spin.
“Let’s walk through…”
a copy-catted introduction (by George/X) learned from this blog.
Hey, at last I learn. You don’t seem to be able to learn much. It explains a LOT about you.
^^^George/X ADMITS he copycats from others!!!!
Write that down in your books, folks
So? What exactly is the problem?
Even if some of this is recycled it’s still nice to read it again since it seems to light a fire under our progressive, anonymous, X, crowd. They seem to start salivating and howling at the mere mention of anything new on Mr. Smith going to Washington. Just a reminder of how off the wall the progressive loon crowd is.
GEB
“They seem to start salivating and howling at the mere mention of anything new on Mr. Smith” Namely you GEB.
Smith claims that folks who really know him would confirm that he “would not let politics play a role” in the tawdry experience he calls his “career.” In his view, the reason politics purportedly doesn’t play “a role” is because, leading or supporting role labels aside, political sleaze constitutes the entirety of his act …, lock, stock and barrel.
With apologies, this Beltway arachnid prompts repetition here of the timeless Q&A inquiry: Q: what is the difference between a lawyer like Smith and a catfish? A: One is a slippery, slimy bottom feeder…, and the other is a fish.
Leave it to Professor Turley to spin an issue completely out of proportion and context; it is par for the course.
Jack Smith’s attendance at a concert while wearing a “No King” T-shirt is entirely irrelevant. It does not prove he was biased; rather, it demonstrates that he is a private citizen free to express his personal views now that he is no longer Special Counsel. Neither Turley nor Congressional Republicans can prove Smith harbored an unlawful bias during his active investigations. What is truly remarkable is how the professor completely glosses over the biggest takeaway from the recent congressional hearings: how Republicans were exposed for trying to manufacture a partisan narrative against Smith. Wearing a T-shirt at a concert has absolutely nothing to do with his past performance as Special Counsel.
Furthermore, the outrage over phone records is just a rehash of old grievances. Professor Turley conveniently fails to mention that the collection of these records was entirely legal. Smith’s office did not execute “wiretaps”—they lawfully obtained third-party phone toll records (metadata showing call logs, dates, and durations, but absolutely no communication content) to reconstruct timelines regarding the exploitation of the January 6th violence. This routine investigative step was reviewed by the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section and formally signed off on by a federal judge.
The narrative being spun about White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is a prime example of this misdirection. The recent declassification of the “Plasmic Echo” filesconfirms that her phone was never tapped or monitored in real time. Her call logs were gathered using a routine, court-approved pen register. The claim that her personal conversations were intercepted is a completely manufactured rumor designed to avoid self-examination and actual legal facts. Turley just insinuates wrongdoing without presenting a shred of evidence.
Leave it to crazy George X to spin an issue completely out of proportion and context; it is par for the course.
Anonynous! How you doing buddy? I bet you were waiting for me early.
X! How you doing buddy? I bet you were waiting for me early.
“Waiting for me early?” Just learning English eh X?
LOL!
The irony of you trying to gatekeep the English language with two broken sentences and missing punctuation is beautiful. Try again, X.
Oh Oh George is losing pretty early this morning. Mommy forget to pack your lunch?
Here he is, GSX, licking the soles of Turley’s shoes and lying.
GSX still hasn’t replied to the lie he made the other day. He told me to produce the lie, and then posted, “Still waiting, S. Meyer, letting you know I have not run away.” But he wasn’t waiting. I quoted his lie in my response. Since then GSX failed to reply, so I will take this opportunity to place that response on his earliest reply. today.
“what it is that is a lie.”
GSX writes: “The claim that “Iran never wanted a nuclear weapon” is not media nonsense—it is the consensus of the United States Intelligence Community. The specific information originates from the U.S. Annual Threat”
“Iran never wanted a nuclear weapon” is an outright lie you attribute to the United States Intelligence Community. That is a lie, and it is just one of a vast number. Run away again, GSX.
September 30, 2026 at 9:47 AM
Justice (and Justices’ Investments) Should Be Blind: The Alito Controversy Raises Persistent Problem on the Court
S. Meyer,
I’m glad you finally surfaced to drop your quote, but your victory lap is entirely built on your own reading comprehension failure.
You claim I lied because the specific phrase you typed out—“Iran never wanted a nuclear weapon”—is inaccurate. Except that is your phrase, not mine. I didn’t write that Iran “never wanted” one in the history of time. You manufactured a strawman, put it in quotation marks, and called it my lie.
What I actually wrote is that the United States Intelligence Community has maintained a long-standing consensus that Iran is not currently undertaking key nuclear weapons-development activities and that the Supreme Leader has not authorized the resumption of the weaponization program suspended in 2003.
If you actually read the unclassified U.S. Annual Threat Assessments published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), you would know this is a matter of public record. Even under the current administration, the Intelligence Community consistently testified before Congress that while Iran has advanced its enrichment capabilities, it has not made the official decision to pursue or build an actual, testable nuclear device.
You scrambled to find a “gotcha” by twisting my words into a ridiculous historical absolute, and you ended up just proving that you don’t understand the difference between enriching uranium and a formal weaponization directive. So no, I didn’t run away. I was just waiting for you to realize you are arguing against your own bad reading habits.
X
Meyer has been obsessing about this comment of yours for 2 weeks now.
He cannot let it go.
This is obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.
There is nothing to be gained by arguing with him on a factual basis. You are not arguing with a rational individual. Facts are completely immaterial to him. His comments are the outward expression of his mental health issues, and nothing more.
Anonymous
The fact that you are following Meyer’s responses tells us that you are either X yourself, or you seek out commentary to criticize X’s (and your) critics.
Clown.
\
Sigmund the Fraud, you are making a fool of yourself. I hit the target with my diagnosis earlier, and you have been upset ever since. Not only that but you seem to be perfectly in tune with GSX’s lies and errors.
Final Diagnosis: Control Fixation*
*An actual diagnosis (informal) for your case.
“Except that is your phrase, not mine. I didn’t write”
GSX, you lie again. I have no control over what was written in the blog on Sept. 25. You have to be dumber than Sh1te to think you could blatantly lie and create an alternative reality when your words are still on the blog.
Thank you for proving yourself a liar and reaffirming the opinion of most. Below is copied from the blog that anyone can read. Along with this is the earlier statement you wrote to Hullbobby. It proves you are a liar again.
How many times must one prove you a liar
X says:
September 25, 2026 at 6:36 PM
S. Meyer, you are really, really gullible.
The claim that “Iran never wanted a nuclear weapon” is not media nonsense—it is the consensus of the United States Intelligence Community. The specific information originates from the U.S. Annual Threat Assessment
https://jonathanturley.org/2026/09/25/the-socialist-chic-almost-half-of-americans-now-hold-positive-views-of-socialism/comment-page-2/#comment-2674130
Also on September 25 you wrote to Hullbobby.
” Trump decided to attack Iran out of the blue. He thought this would be over in a few weeks. Obviously he was dead wrong. Iran never wanted a nuclear weapon. “
As I said, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.
You simply cannot let this go.
you sound a lot like X, because you have copy-catted the phrase, “let it go.”
It seems my comment didn’t make it.
Sigmund the Fraud, you rely on projection while generalizing because you can’t target specific ideas. When you accuse others of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, you are actually looking in a mirror and seeing yourself. But there is more to your psychiatric disease. You want control over the environment and try to get it through lying and word manipulation. You pretend to be analyzing another, and that is how I labelled you Sigmund the Fraud, but your knowledge of psychiatry is poor and mixed up. You tried to up your game by using Karen Horney’s name to demonstrate your expertise, but you failed at understanding her words.
I suggest you look up control fixation again because earlier you hit only part of your disease. Another poster says you are X. I doubt that, but you have many features of X. Gross stupidity and lying are the most prominent, but they are common to X and all the anonymous creatures on the blog.
Final Grade: Failure
For how many years has Iran been two months away from a nuclear weapon?
Acting on that chant has led to nothing good.
Old Fish, you prove you don’t understand what the words mean. It is as simple as that. Once they have the material and it’s close to pure, one can say days, weeks, or months. When they actually have a deliverable bomb, it’s a different story. I can shop at the grocery store in less than 5 minutes, but I might not go for a week or more.
When Iran’s nuclear sites were bombed, it is almost certain they were extremely close. Did they have the delivery system? I don’t know. Some people need a bomb to blow up over their heads to realize they are wrong.
The attacks on Iran seriously defanged a totalitarian government that butchers its own citizens, that has sponsored terrorism for some 45 years.
That’s what you consider “nothing good”?
Is George Svelaz X Credible? Should we believe anything he says without proof? No, and in the discussion below is one of many reasons why he should never be trusted. He is a liar. GSX exists as a lie in the form of “Iran never wanted a nuclear weapon” and should be reminded of this repeatedly.
But you knew all that. This is Turley recycling content. BTW, not a liberal. But you’re too stupid to understand, mentally and emotionally immature is a better description of you, that criticism isn’t always political. That you automatically tag someone a liberal indicates you are an child and an idiot.
Tom Knowles says he is “not a liberal”, and then he calls someone he disagrees with “an child and an idiot”. Sure sounds like a liberal to me.
My comment is When? When will those in government, elected and non-elected, the activist judiciary as well be subjected to the laws we the people are subjected? The lies before the public as well as congressional hearings go without punishment. How often did we hear Mayorkas tell us the border was secure, meanwhile our eyes revealed the truth? Today his lies are impacting the lives of every American . So I ask again When?
meanwhile our eyes revealed the truth? Our eyes? Who is “our”. You get to see only what the media wants you to see. You have no special power to see or know truth, but again, you are being feed what they want you see and hear.
Jack Smith is as much a Fascist thug disguised as a prosecutor as any we have seen. His enablers, Garland and Monaco, are no less culpable in Smith’s Fascist political hit job. The only positive is that the American people recognized the unfair actions of far left Fascists and reelected Trump.
Fascist this, fascist that. Got fascist on the brain? Got anything worth telling us about? Fing MAGAots…
Who started the calling people fascists? The Demonic Democrats of course.
Got proof? None in fact. Demonic you call them? That comment says it all about you. Crazy.
Little childish Anonymous has no issue with Smith’s actions because he doesn’t understand them.
Little childish Anonymous has no issue with Smith’s actions because he doesn’t understand them.
OMG This is Great! whatsamatter? Trump irritating your TDS addled brain today? Jack Smith abused his power, everyone knows this, even you dopes who can’t play in Trump’s world. The fact that you know this but are OK with it to “get Trump” is largely WHY he is president today. Calling Trump such hyperbolic names too. All it tells sane people is that you are insincere or unhinged. PLEASE keep it up as it is the help we need to defeat you. Please vote for Hunter when he runs too LOL.
So why isn’t he in prison, or at the very least , disbarred?
Prosecutorial Immunity. The last ‘card’ the left had before Trump wiped the floor with them. They conspired to subvert the will of the people with their absurd legal frankenstein. They failed and now they screech and wail here and I come to watch. Trump was right about everything and it really bothers leftys to the point they lose all their ethical bounds.
How many times is Turley going to rehash this Smith nonsense?
@Anonymous
Oh, the irony. The annoying irony. *holds up mirror*.
As long as new information comes to light, I hope.
New? Nothing in the article is new. Wait, he wore a t-shirt to a concert. Definitely treason eh?
Why is it nonsense? This was a political coup against a sitting president of the US and an attempt to keep him off the ballot in a future election. Jack Smith is a political hack that they already knew had been reprimanded for his illegal and unconstitutional activities as a special counsel.
You would be the first and loudest liberal whiner if this ever happened to a Democrat. You are fooling no one.
But you knew all that. This is Turley recycling content. BTW, not a liberal. But you’re too stupid to understand, mentally and emotionally immature is a better description of you, that criticism isn’t always political. That you automatically tag someone a liberal indicates you are an child and an idiot.
Maybe until it is addressed publicly and all the Trump-is-a-felon nonsense is cleared up—and he goes to jail or is at least disbarred.
Trump is in fact a convicted felon.
“President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced today in New York City months after a New York jury found him guilty of 34 felony counts, falsifying business documents to cover up an extramarital affair.
But Judge Juan Merchan granted the president-elect what’s called an unconditional discharge, a sentence that affirms he is a convicted felon, but faces no further penalties, fines or any time in jail.”
Source: Fox News
Yes, we know. This is one of the reasons we voted for him. Lawfare backfire much?
Now you get to watch Trump be your president and drive you insane, Mr. ILoveLawfare.
Enjoy the Presidency YOU helped build!
Why read it? Why post here? What are you doing? Is this what you’re doing with your life? What’s your problem?