Senator Schmitt on the Unprecedented Weaponization of DOJ Against Conservatives

ST. LOUIS, MO - Today, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt, former Missouri Attorney General and Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, joined Fox News' Sunday Briefing to discuss the unprecedented weaponization of the Department of Justice to target President Trump, Republican lawmakers, and conservative organizations.

Watch the full interview HERE

Senator Schmitt on DOJ Campaign Against President Trump, Conservatives:

"This is another symptom of Trump Derangement Syndrome. I think that - for the viewers at home to really understand the scope of this - it really is breathtaking. As I mentioned -100x worse than Watergate - that may be an understatement. What happened was, three days after President Trump announced he was running for president, the entirety of government in the Justice Department was weaponized against him to bankrupt him and his family and put him in jail for the rest of his life. So, what happened? In Atlanta, a state case was created to go after President Trump. The number two person in that case met with the White House. Alvin Bragg, in New York, began his criminal trial against President Trump. And the number three [ranking] person left the [Department of Justice] to go join Alvin Bragg's office. Then, of course, you have Jack Smith, who's notorious in prosecutor circles as the henchmen you assigned to go get your person. A 'show me the man, I'll show you the crime' type of prosecutor. He's a total dirt bag. [Jack Smith] brings this case against President Trump. But it wasn't just a war against a man, Peter, this was against a movement. So Arctic Frost was going after - not just President Trump - but sitting United States Senators with subpoenas. The Republican Attorneys General Association, which I happened to be the chairman of at the time. Charlie Kirk's organization. This was a massive dragnet to sweep up people just because they were Republicans. That was their crime. So, this is sweeping, it's huge in scope. We're just getting this information right now because of whistleblowers. If President Trump wouldn't have won, all this stuff would be buried […] We need 'Watergate-style' hearings for months on this to continue that investigation. There ought to be charges brought. Eventually, resignations. One final point, Judge Boasberg, who's become notorious from the FISA courts, also making a speech trying to thwart President Trump's agenda before he got [back] in [office]. Then, somehow ends up with all these cases in the DC area, even though he wasn't the assignment judge. [Judge Boasberg] actually wrote in the attachment to these subpoenas to the telecommunications companies that you are not you can't tell Senator Cruz, you can't tell these other senators that the subpoena was out there, because they would destroy evidence. That's just beyond the pale. I think impeachment proceedings [for Judge Boasberg] should begin in the House of Representatives."

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"The subpoena power for a special prosecutor is enormous, and it can be abused. That's the challenge here, right? Having served as an attorney general before being a prosecutor, it's an enormous amount of power given to one person. You have to have restraint. But the reason why Jack Smith was appointed here is because he doesn't have that. He's notorious for that. There are other cases where he's been disciplined for that. So, the reality is - this is a guy who was set out to go get President Trump, and it didn't matter how they got it. But then, of course, that turned into something bigger, and they used January 6 as this predicate to sweep up organizations whose only crime was they were conservatives, they supported President Trump. We just simply can't have that in this country. It's a really dangerous road to go down, and I think that there need to be consequences here."

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"I hope [Jack Smith testifies]. I do think, though, that the thing that has to happen first is […] Watergate style hearings. We need to get all of the information. Because what we don't want to have is a situation where Jack Smith - because of some of the records they're still closed from grand juries - he's the only one who's seen those. We need to be able to see all of this stuff. And I think the more that we see - just like the revelations from Chairman Grassley this week - further kind of highlight the abuse that took place through Jack Smith. I also think we ought to have an investigation about the coordination that happened. There's no reason in the world why a state prosecutor in Georgia would be meeting with the White House about a state charge. There's no reason why the number three person at [the Department of Justice] would leave that position to go to a district attorney's office to get Trump. So, I think we need to understand what kind of coordination was happening with Jack Smith with these other prosecutors. There's a lot more there. I think we need a lot more information before we have those hearings, though."

Senator Schmitt on the Need to Impeach Judge Boasberg:

"Well, I think we've seen enough for Judge Boasberg because of the abuse through judicial fiat - saying that sitting U.S. Senators would destroy evidence. He had no basis for that, and that was his ruling that. I think it's worth an inquiry - he was on vacation, Peter, when President Trump came into office. The D.C. area has one assignment judge per day. He wasn't the assignment judge [that day]. He was the presiding judge, but he's on vacation. He got these cases at one in the morning. Was he tipped off? There's a lot more there. But I don't think we can have the full menu of accountability until we know everything. But I do think there's accountability that should come. I think Peter, if you step back and put this in the broader picture - whether it was 'Russiagate' to prevent Trump from being in office in the first place, then being laundered through intelligence agencies to sideline a presidency, then the FBI pre-bunking the Hunter Biden laptop story. Then, three days after Biden comes in the censorship regime begins […] There's a conspiracy that begins at the very beginning […] In a conspiracy, if you're a co-conspirator in 'mile marker one', even though you take an exit ramp in 'mile marker five', you're still co-conspirator and liable for the criminal activity of 'mile marker ten'. I think we're at 'mile marker ten'. So, I think this conspiracy that began with Clapper and Comey and Brennan 10 years ago needs to play out in court…"

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