The sight of Rep. Jeff Van Drew standing up to former special counsel Jack Smith in a recent House hearing was a welcome dose of accountability for Americans tired of political prosecutors running wild. Van Drew’s blunt questioning forced the kind of public scrutiny that should have happened long before Smith began sweeping phone records and issuing subpoenas. Hardworking patriots watched as a career bureaucrat tried to justify tactics that reek of political selectivity and raw power grabs.
Jack Smith tried to cloak his actions in the language of impartial justice, insisting no one is above the law while defending the very conduct that trampled on privacy and separation-of-powers protections. That claim rings hollow to any citizen who’s seen evidence that his Arctic Frost probe pulled in the communications of lawmakers and conservative groups without transparency. Smith’s performance only underscored the urgent need to ask whether “following the law” became a slogan to hide partisan overreach.
Republicans on the Hill have produced documents showing Smith’s office issued dozens of subpoenas and targeted hundreds of Republican individuals and entities under the Arctic Frost codename. Those revelations aren’t abstract; they’re direct threats to the constitutional guardrails that keep the government from turning surveillance into political warfare. Americans deserve to know why lawful citizens and elected officials were swept up in a probe whose only discernible pattern was its focus on one party’s political opponents.
Senators Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley have rightly escalated oversight by compelling telecom companies like AT&T, Verizon and Lumen to disclose who was targeted and why. This is not grandstanding — it’s a necessary check when the weaponized use of toll data and nondisclosure orders were apparently used to hide investigative excess. If justice looks like secrecy for allies and subpoenas for opponents, then this Republic is in trouble and Congress must act to restore balance.
Newly released memos showing a $20,000 payment approved to a confidential informant as part of Arctic Frost only deepen the outrage and suspicion. Whether you call it standard procedure or political sleaze depends on whether you trust the people who greenlit the payment; judging by the partisan pattern, many Americans see a pay-to-play flavor to an investigation that disproportionately hit Trump allies. That kind of conduct demands a full accounting and, if warranted, consequences for those who weaponized law enforcement against political rivals.
Congressional Republicans must keep the pressure up — subpoena records, hold follow-up hearings, and pursue real reforms to prevent future special counsels from acting as an unaccountable political police. The American people are not fodder for vendettas, and every citizen who cares about free speech, due process, and fair treatment should stand with lawmakers demanding answers. If we do not push back now, we risk normalizing the kind of law-enforcement theater that treats opponents as enemies rather than fellow Americans.
