NEWS: Ted Cruz Furiously Grills Jack Smith Over Subpoenas Targeting His Phones, Republicans

[0:02] thank you mr chairman mr smith you and i have never met but your team wanted to know to whom [0:10] i spoke when i spoke to them and for how long you subpoenaed records associated with my phones both [0:19] personal and office and you sought and obtained a court order to prevent me from knowing about it [0:26] for years you were able to ask your questions in secret without me in the room today the senate [0:36] gets to ask questions and unlike you we will do so in public you have insisted that politics played [0:43] no role in your investigation the american people can judge for themselves let's start with your [0:53] subpoenas did your team subpoena records concerning the republican national committee uh we subpoenaed [1:03] a number of records that's a yes or no question uh i do not have i just want to be clear with you [1:10] senator i do not have a recollection of every subpoena we did subpoena numerous records your [1:15] team subpoena the rnc i would have to look at those records but we did you're testifying you don't [1:20] remember yes no or i don't remember those are your three options uh it is very possible i do not [1:26] have a recollection did your team subpoena turning point usa again i would have to look at the rest [1:32] you have any idea who you subpoenaed can you name all right let me help you did your team subpoena the [1:39] conservative partnership institute uh that i do remember okay good we found one and i can explain [1:46] why did your team sub did your subpoenas demand communications with fox news uh the subpoenas that we [1:54] issued did uh ask for communication regarding ad buys because it was relevant to the false statements [2:00] we were investigating purchasing advertising on a news agency you somehow believe is criminal did your [2:06] team seek and obtained donor and fundraising data uh i would have to look at the subpoenas but again [2:14] i'm happy you don't know if you had donor and fundraising data i'm happy to explain why we [2:19] issued do you know if you had donor and fundraising data i would have to look at the subpoenas you don't [2:24] know are you testifying right now you don't know if you obtained donor and fundraising data you can [2:33] sigh all you like it's a very simple question you know damn well you did you've been questioned about [2:38] the checks that you guys got you know the answer so why don't you answer the question did your team [2:46] obtain donor and fundraising information it's a yes you can say yes i do not recall the attachments to [2:54] specific subpoenas i'm happy to so you're testifying you're testifying you don't remember if you got [3:00] donor and fundraising material really i do not recall because i have not seen those subpoenas in a very [3:08] long time but i'm happy all in all you issued look look i get you want to dance and avoid the questions [3:14] i understand it because you can't answer a simple straightforward question all in all you issued 197 [3:18] subpoenas to 34 individuals at least in 163 businesses and you sought records on at least 430 [3:26] republican individuals and entities is that right and you're going to say you don't remember is that [3:31] correct i do not recall those numbers i understand you know if you look at the list there is one thing [3:38] that is consistent every name on it is a republican is it your view is it a crime to be a republican [3:46] absolutely not sir is it a crime to write a check to republicans it is not and i'm happy to explain [3:53] why we issued these subpoenas if you'd like um sure briefly we had to conduct an investigation about [4:01] whether any person or entity violated the law with respect to the attempt to block the peaceful [4:07] transfer of power to make that decision yes i understand and you use that as an excuse to engage [4:13] in a massive fishing expedition targeting over 400 republicans and it was disgraceful let's just talk [4:19] about the united states senate you issued subpoenas for more than 20 percent of the republicans in the [4:26] senate seeking their phone records you did so and then you obtained orders non-disclosure orders from [4:39] judge bozberg i believe judge bozberg should be impeached for his complicity and your abuse of power [4:45] now judge bozberg signed orders and i want to read from the order judge bozberg signed that i didn't [4:51] know about that that the republican senators targeted here didn't know about i want to read [4:57] read from the the order quote the court finds reasonable grounds to believe such disclosure in [5:06] other words disclosing to me that you were subpoenaing my phone records will result in destruction [5:12] of or tampering with evidence intimidation of potential witnesses and serious jeopardy to the [5:18] investigation mr smith do you have any evidence whatsoever to believe that i and 20 of the [5:24] members of the republicans in the senate will engage in destruction and or tampering of evidence [5:31] and intimidation of potential witnesses no we had powerful evidence that donald trump and his [5:37] associates am i donald trump you are not sir are the members of the senate donald trump no was this [5:45] order directed at donald trump no i believe that your office draft this order that judge bozberg [5:52] signed and he signed them like he was signing denny's menus one at a time over and over and [5:57] over again facts be damned did your office draft this uh i'd have to look but i'm assuming that's [6:04] the correct order and if so we did and i'm happy to explain why we did if you'd good i want you to [6:09] tell us right now are you an officer of the court yes i want to tell us did you have a shred of evidence [6:17] that 20 percent of the republicans in the senate will destroy evidence and intimidate witnesses we [6:26] had a strong reason to believe that donald trump would destroy evidence that was not directed at [6:32] donald trump it it was stated disclosing it to members of the senate no it was stated it disclosing [6:38] it to anyone and we do not have to uh wait for someone to be injured for an investigation to be [6:45] obstructed we had strong reason to believe that donald trump would obstruct our investigation [6:52] given the obstruction alleged in the florida indictment given the attempts to intimidate [6:58] witnesses in the election case given the threats that were later made to witnesses in the election [7:03] case i as a prosecutor mr smith are you aware of the statute to usc section 6628 yes i am that [7:13] specifically protects senate communication records and makes this non-disclosure agreement that you [7:21] gave judge bozberg and that he signed that makes it illegal were you aware of it at the time i do [7:28] not recall discussing this statute at the time did you bring it to the judge's attention uh i do not [7:36] recall this being part of our application so instead you gave the judge an order that was contrary to [7:43] federal law and you got the judge to sign order after order after order that was contrary to federal [7:48] law is that right no we sought to follow department policy and excuse me does department policy contravene [7:56] federal statute it does not and we intended to follow them both we submitted these non-disclosure [8:03] orders consistent with the law and department policy by the way when you sought my phone records [8:13] from at&t a number of senators had their phone records with verizon verizon on hat unfortunately was [8:21] more than happy to comply at&t declined to hand over my phone records because they concluded doing [8:29] so would be unconstitutional it would violate the speech and debate debate clause now ordinarily when [8:35] a prosecutor prosecution seeks and issues a subpoena and and the individual receiving the subpoena [8:41] refuses to turn it over ordinarily the prosecution goes to court to enforce that is that right i do not [8:50] believe that's what happened in this case sir in this case you didn't do a damn thing because at&t didn't [8:54] hand it over because they concluded it violated the speech and debate clause and you know what [8:58] your team said never mind nothing to see here we're not going to fight because you knew if you went to [9:02] court you would lose our work and our securing these subpoenas and non-disclosure orders was consistent [9:13] with the law the toll records it was explicitly contrary to federal statute it was explicitly contrary [9:19] to the federal constitution let me let me ask you this you have any regrets regrets regarding my work [9:29] his special counsel yes yes i regret uh that the people i worked with have been unfairly uh fired [9:38] and vilified of course of course you can't bring yourself well let me say congratulations because [9:44] you have succeeded where richard nixon failed which is weaponizing the department of justice and the [9:50] federal government to go after your political opponents congratulations you are stepping into the [9:56] shoes of john mitchell and yet your abuse is far greater than john mitchell and i understand for [10:03] the rest of your life you're going to be hailed as a hero in the resistance movement i assume you have [10:10] a pink hat somewhere at home and people will be proud of you for resisting but i'll tell you what you [10:16] have done you have brought the department of justice into disrepute because instead of being apolitical [10:26] instead of enforcing the law you willingly were conscripted as a foot soldier for the dnc and you [10:33] know what you also did you re-elected president donald trump because the american people were disgusted [10:42] at your willingness to abuse power in partisan ends javert from les mis would look at you with astonishment [10:57] i believe you have no regrets i believe you have convinced yourself that this witch hunt targeting half [11:04] the country for partisan ends was justified well let me say you have brought the department of justice [11:13] into disrepute and you have done enormous damage and i believe your conduct represents the most [11:22] egregious abuse of power in the history of the department of justice