Democratic strategist Nate Lerner and former Republican national spokesperson Elizabeth Pipko joined a panel discussion with NTD's Steve Lance. They discussed the House Judiciary Committee's questioning of former special counsel Jack Smith on Thursday and the arrest of three anti-ICE protesters who were part of a group that disrupted a service at Cities Church in St. Paul on Sunday.
And welcome back to the Capitol Report. I'm Steve Lance, former special counsel Jack Smith,
testifying before the House Judiciary Committee today, defending his investigations into President
Trump and other conservative political figures. Joining us tonight to discuss are Democratic
strategist Nate Lerner and former GOP national spokesperson Elizabeth Pipko. Great to have you
both with us. So let's play an exchange tonight with Congressman Darrell Issa of California.
Why is it that no one should be informed, including the judges? As you went in to spy
on these people, did you mention that you were spying on, seeking records so you could find
out about when conversations occurred between the US Speaker of the House and the President?
Did you inform the judge or did you hold that back? My office didn't spy on anyone.
Elizabeth, do you think that the Department of Justice is going to find a way to indict
Jack Smith? Well, look, I think it depends on what information comes out, what they find. The
reality is this was an extremely polarizing time. Everybody was tuned in to this case,
and it was not just because it was Donald Trump. It's because it was really the first time this
had happened, right? He was being really targeted as a former president of the United States and
a possible future candidate during an election cycle. That had never happened before in our
country. So to watch that happen and see how many people had questions about what was going on,
including myself, how many people now, years later, look back at the way we feel
he was unfairly targeted, only leaving us with more questions. I think it was
an incredibly irresponsible thing to do at best. At worst, there's going to be something found here
that was illegal, and they'll find a reason to charge him. I think the problem is actually what
this represents for America, because whether they find something or not, people have made
up their minds, right? Half the country who doesn't like Donald Trump believes this was the
right thing to do. Those that voted for Donald Trump think this was a witch hunt. Then what
happens is we move forward with the country really divided over what went on, how politicized it was,
and not trusting the federal government ever again based on who it is that's in power.
To that point, Nate, do the Democrats sort of lose the high ground here, given the
nature of the prosecutions and sort of everything that came out today when they try to say that
this is, in fact, being politicized and targeted against them?
Well, I'm not sure how they lose the high ground when they were right to prosecute Donald Trump.
Donald Trump did commit crimes. Let's take a moment here to remember exactly what Jack Smith
was investigating Donald Trump for. I think it's very easy years later to say,
this was a political investigation. This was an individual who was
seeking out the president for political purposes. No, this was a career prosecutor, a career FBI
agent who was investigating the president of the United States for recruiting fake electors
in states that he lost in the 2020 election. Donald Trump had to be
