Jack Smith Defends Trump Indictments in London as Critics Allege Political Motives

Jack Smith’s London Spotlight: A Deep State Defense Under Fire

• Special Counsel Jack Smith defended his Trump prosecutions in a public exchange overseas.
• The timing of Smith’s appointment and the Mar-a-Lago raid still fuels GOP criticism.
• Indictments in Miami and DC split the legal fight over documents and alleged obstruction.
• Smith insists politics played no part, while critics call the actions politically charged.
• A federal judge later tossed one classified-docs case amid questions about the special counsel process.

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith spoke publicly about his investigations into President Trump during a sit-down with Andrew Weissmann at the University of London, and the tone was defensive and unapologetic. Conservatives see the event as confirmation that the Justice Department’s pursuits have been political theater from the start. The session revived old wounds about timing and intent.

Names and History

Andrew Weissmann, who ran Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia probe, joined Smith on stage, which only deepened GOP suspicions that the same legal network keeps circling the president. Many on the right view Weissmann and Smith as members of an entrenched legal class eager to take down political opponents. That perception shapes how Republicans interpret every move from the special counsel office.

Smith was appointed special counsel in 2022 by Attorney General Merrick Garland shortly after President Trump announced his 2024 campaign, a timing critics call blatant. A few months later, in August 2022, federal agents conducted a dramatic raid at Mar-a-Lago that fed the narrative of overreach. The optics were both explosive and politically costly for the DOJ.

In June 2023 Smith indicted Trump on 37 federal counts in Miami tied to documents kept at Mar-a-Lago, a property that was under Secret Service protection. That indictment included 31 counts under the Espionage Act and six additional process-related crimes, according to the filings. Supporters of Trump argue the charges stretched legal theory to criminalize routine presidential records handling.

Separately, Smith brought a Washington DC case charging Trump with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction and attempted obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. Those counts focused on January 6 and related behavior rather than documents. Republicans say the split prosecutions look like a scattershot strategy.

Jack Smith defended his cases against Trump and said the idea that politics would play a role in his cases is “absolutely ludicrous.”

“These are team players who don’t want to do anything but good in the world. They’re not interested in politics. I get very concerned when I see how easy it is to demonize these people for political ends when these are the very sort of people I think we should be celebrating,” Smith said of his team of Deep State prosecutors.

WATCH:

Watch the full exchange here:

Last summer Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed Jack Smith’s classified documents case based on unlawful appointment and funding of the special counsel. That ruling gave Republicans a concrete courtroom victory and a talking point about process abuses. Jack Smith’s DC case was dismissed after President Trump won the 2024 presidential election.