Sen. Ted Cruz turned his questioning of former special counsel Jack Smith into one of the most heated exchanges of Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, repeatedly pressing Smith over investigators obtaining records connected to Republican lawmakers and conservative organizations.
And eventually, Cruz reduced his accusation to one blunt question:
“Is it a crime to be a Republican?”
Smith’s response was immediate.
“Absolutely not.”
The confrontation came as Republicans grilled Smith over investigative steps taken during his probe into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Cruz, whose own phone records were among those sought by investigators, demanded to know why senators were not informed about subpoenas seeking their records.
Smith attempted to explain that prosecutors had concerns that making the subpoenas public could jeopardize evidence, but Reuters reported that Cruz repeatedly interrupted him as he tried to answer.
Cruz then broadened his attack, pointing to records sought from Republican and conservative organizations and characterizing the investigation as politically motivated.
That’s when he delivered the question that crystallized his argument.
“Is it a crime to be a Republican?”
“Absolutely not,” Smith replied.
But the exchange left out important context about exactly what investigators obtained.
The records at the center of much of the controversy were so-called “toll records” — information showing details such as the timing and duration of calls, but not the contents of the conversations themselves.
Smith defended obtaining those records by pointing to evidence that Trump and his allies contacted members of Congress on January 6, 2021, as Congress prepared to certify Joe Biden’s election victory.
Republicans have argued that seeking records involving lawmakers amounted to an abuse of prosecutorial power and have accused Smith’s investigation of improperly targeting Trump and his political allies.
Smith rejected that characterization throughout Tuesday’s hearing.
Earlier, he told senators that he stood behind his decisions as special counsel and said that if presented with the same evidence involving a Democratic former president, he would have made the same decision to prosecute.
That did little to cool the atmosphere.
Cruz accused Smith of bringing the Justice Department into disrepute and compared his conduct to Javert, the relentless police inspector in “Les Misérables.”
Smith continued to defend the investigation as evidence-driven rather than partisan.
And when Cruz finally framed the dispute in the starkest possible terms — asking whether being a Republican itself was a crime — Smith’s answer took only two words.
“Absolutely not.”
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