Five Ways Jack Smith’s Witch Hunt Ripped Up The Constitution

The Federalist

The Federalist’s Senior Legal Correspondent Margot Cleveland took the disgraced Biden-era FBI and DOJ to task on Tuesday during testimony before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee in a hearing on the lawfare efforts against President Donald Trump.

“After the 2020 election, an anti-Trump FBI agent named Tim Thibault attempted to use the Justice Department to destroy the president. Thibault’s efforts led to the launch of Arctic Frost,” Cleveland began.

Senate Republicans revealed in late 2025 that Biden’s DOJ and FBI compiled an “enemies list” of Republicans, going so far as to seize phone records of several Republican senators as part of their “get-Trump” lawfare efforts. As Cleveland previously explained, Arctic Frost was designed to “target Republicans in key battleground states,” and the investigation would ultimately lead to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s elector case against Trump.

“As this committee well knows — because many of you were victims — Smith approved the subpoenas” to obtain toll records from several Republican senators. Notably, a subpoena for records from Sen. Ted Cruz fell flat after Cruz’s cellphone provider challenged the legality of the subpoena.

“You also know that Smith’s team sought a nondisclosure order from Chief Judge James Boasberg — apparently without informing him that the targets were members of Congress,” Cleveland pointed out, adding that “Cruz’s request for the nondisclosure application to be unsealed has been ignored.”

“Judge Boasberg still failed to order Smith and his prosecutors to show cause for why they should not be held in contempt for concealing the members of Congress were the ones who were being targeted. This fact should not be ignored,” she continued. Cleveland then questioned Boasberg’s actions in light of the assertion that he did not know the identities of the subpoena targets. If he hadn’t known the identities, Cleveland argued, he would likely “enter a show-cause order to hold Smith accountable for violating your rights.”

Notably, Smith also subpoenaed records from Republican organizations, including Turning Point USA, which “revealed the donor base.” 

“The breadth of these constitutional intrusions is unprecedented,” Cleveland testified.

Cleveland also critiqued Smith for habitually “overstretch[ing] the meaning and intent of the law.” As Cleveland noted, the Supreme Court ultimately invalidated Smith’s “theory of criminal liability” and “also halt[ed] Smith’s efforts to prosecute Trump for actions that fell within the president’s official duties.”

Smith sought indictments of Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents and for using his free speech to question the 2020 election. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the first case entirely, ruling that Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional. Smith later dropped the 2020 election case, choosing not to pursue it after Trump won the 2024 election. Notably, the Supreme Court had issued a decision just months prior finding presidents have absolute immunity for core presidential acts and presumptive immunity for official acts.