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We all must be Jack Smith.

July 3, 2026

Robert B. Hubbell

Special Counsel Jack Smith rarely spoke to the press during his tenure as the lead investigator into Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election and refusal to return national security documents after leaving office. On Thursday, he sat for an interview with Nicolle Wallace on her MSNow nightly program.

The video is here: Exclusive: Jack Smith Warns Nicolle about unprecedented attacks on rule of law in first interview.

MSNow released a written companion piece that summarizes and quotes some of Smith’s remarks, here: MSNow, Jack Smith says rule of law under unprecedented attack in first TV interview since resignation.

Many aspects of the interview are remarkable. Just to hear Smith’s voice is unusual. In the pre-Trump DOJ, prosecutors avoided interviews; they allowed “indictments and pleadings” to speak for the DOJ. Under Trump’s DOJ, senior officials regularly appear on podcasts and Fox News to parrot Trump’s talking points.

But Smith felt compelled to speak out because of the extreme threats posed by Trump to our nation and members of the DOJ and FBI who still serve with integrity and honor.

Smith revealed himself to be a thoughtful, low-key professional who has served Democratic and Republican administrations. He noted that the standards for administering justice did not change between administrations—until Trump came along. He said,

I have investigated cases focusing on the facts and law throughout my career. We did this case the same way, under the same standards. The thing that’s important for your viewers to know is those standards are not meant to change from one administration to the next, and in my experience — until now — they haven’t.

That sea-change in the DOJ from an impartial agency pursuing justice to a legal paramilitary force attacking Trump’s political enemies is clear to even the most casual observers.

Indeed, Jack Smith is now the target of the Trump DOJ. After Smith testified before Congress and stated unequivocally that the evidence supported Trump’s conviction for election interference, Trump ordered Pam Bondi to start a criminal investigation of Smith.

Nicolle Wallace questioned Smith about Trump’s threats to indict him. Smith said he would not be intimidated:

There’s no way in the world if the thought was to go after me, so that I wouldn’t speak up about the corruption that’s happening or speak up to defend these agents and prosecutors — that is a grave miscalculation. There is no way I’m going to be intimidated.

We all need to be Jack Smith. He chooses not to be intimidated. Is he concerned, even afraid at times? Of course he is. But he has decided that speaking out and defending others who remain at the DOJ is more important than surrendering to fear of Trump’s threats.

Everyone who is protesting in marches and on streetcorners and overpasses has made a mental calculation of the possibility that Trump or his enablers will target them because they are exercising their First Amendment Rights. But they refuse to be intimidated. Just like Jack Smith. Just like the Civil Rights activists facing Southern sheriffs armed with clubs and police dogs. Just like the suffragettes, who were repeatedly jailed for proposing the radical idea that women should be allowed to vote. Just like the rag-tag members of the Continental Army who spent most of the war losing to the larger, better-equipped British army until their dogged persistence paid off.

Refusing to be intimidated is a choice, one that can be made even as we are anxious or frightened. The choice doesn’t have to be heroic. It can be as simple as putting one foot in front of the other until our slow, steady advance shifts the tide of history. (Credit to HCR for the thought.)

Jack Smith is a consummate professional with a distinguished career. But his interview shows that his defining characteristic is that he is a normal person, like you and me, who wants to do the right thing. If enough of us choose to be like Jack Smith, we will win. It is that simple and that hard.

The good news is that tens of millions of Americans are already following in Jack Smith’s footsteps, even if they don’t know it and would be embarrassed by the comparison. You are heroes of democracy, putting one foot in front of the other, refusing to quit until we achieve victory. Because of you, we will win. It is just a question of time.

Tree gang

Bob Dylan in the NYT today, in a piece where a few artists in their 80s were asked about the best and worst parts of reaching that age, and whether they had advice for the president on his getting to the milestone. (Dylan apparently demurred on the final question, not surprisingly.)