Latest / Salem Podcast Network / LARRY with Larry O'Connor - New Documents Raise Questions About Jack Smith’s Trump Investigation

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LARRY with Larry O'Connor - New Documents Raise Questions About Jack Smith’s Trump Investigation · Salem Podcast Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Jack Smith was the special prosecutor appointed by Merrick Garland
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: at the demand of Joe Biden, the president of the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: United States. His job was to imprison Donald Trump and
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: keep him from running for president. That's the bottom line.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Supreme Court actually proved that a lot of what he
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: was doing in the indictments he brought were unconstitutional, not
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: to mention the fact that the Senate never actually confirmed
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: him as a U.S.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Attorney.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: So his entire office and operation may have been contrary
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to the Constitution. But that doesn't matter because they had
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: conservatives to prosecute, damn it. Well, if you remember right
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: about a week and a half ago, he testified before
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: a House Senate, excuse me, a Senate Judiciary Committee. And
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: he said things like this in his opening statement.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: I am not a politician and I have no partisan loyalty.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: My career has been dedicated to serving our country by
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: upholding the rule of law and the core principles upon
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: which our country was founded. There you go. I mean,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: you're not more equivocal than that or unequivocal.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: He is not a politician and that a person's politics
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: should play no role in prosecuting the law. So it's
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: kind of funny that now we're learning a whole lot
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: about how political this guy operated, including this blockbuster from
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: our friend John Solomon, investigative reporter in Washington, D.C., publisher
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: of Just the News. Jack Smith team tracked Trump's defense
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: lawyer's calls by monitoring his chief of staff's phone. So
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: in other words, Susie Weil's phone was part of the
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: whole cache of phones that the Jack Smith investigative team
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: were looking at. And in so doing, they were picking
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: up conversations and interactions between Trump and his own lawyers. Gee,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: that's kind of a no-no, isn't it? Well, yeah, it
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: sure is. John Solomon explains even further, did Smith trample
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: the Constitution? The Bill of Rights has long guaranteed the
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: rights to a free press political association and a strong
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: legal defense. New FBI and DOJ evidence raises serious questions
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: about whether and how those rights were safeguarded in recent years. Furthermore,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Catherine Herridge has done a deep dive into the declassified documents.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: It's called Plasmic Echo. This FBI probe appears to use
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: FBI investigative tool known as Penn Register to target phone
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: calls of then campaign manager Susie Wiles. That's right. She
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: was a campaign manager at the time. She wasn't the
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: chief of staff. She was a campaign manager. Does this
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: sound familiar? It's almost like this is what they did
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: during the 2016 campaign, isn't it?
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: Yes, in fact, it is.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Allegedly tracked nearly two dozen defense attorneys, five journalists, the
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: first lady, political advisors, including Kash Patel, who ended up
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: becoming the FBI director. Administration official characterizes as intrusive tactics
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: by special counsel Jack Smith team probe laid groundwork for
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: classified records case against President Trump. Let me pause here
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: for a moment and ask you all, to follow. And
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: if you can afford it, subscribe to the work that
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Catherine Herridge is doing. She is an independent journalist and
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: she makes all of her money doing this work on X.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: If you can support her, that would be great. Just
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: following her and resharing and reposting her work goes a
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: long way to helping her and it doesn't cost you
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: a dime. Likewise, Just the News and John Solomon follow
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: their accounts and make sure you bookmark their website. And
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: this is coming from a guy who runs another website,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Town Hall. But we're all in this together. And great
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: work being done over there helps the great work that
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: we're trying to do over here. And too many people
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: in our business don't give credit where it's due. John Solomon,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Catherine Herridge, follow them, subscribe to them and support what
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: they're doing. All right, back to Catherine Herridge's work. Pen
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: register trap and trace or PRTT. Surveillance tool collects non-content
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: routing data. This is what this pen register does, right?
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Phone numbers dialed or received, call times and duration. In
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: other words, They're tracking when the campaign manager was having
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: phone calls and how long those phone calls took between
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: other advisers and President Trump's legal defense team. Remember, he
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: was defending himself and under indictment in various jurisdictions at
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: this time. It was used for criminal and national security investigations.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: That's what it's supposed to be used for. And there's
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: a lower standard than probable cause to get a warrant
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: to be able to use this. This is what Jack
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Smith and his team were up to at the demand
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: of Merrick Garland and Joe Biden. First Amendment's freedom of
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: speech and Fourth Amendment unreasonable search and seizure violations potentially here.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Former senior FBI agent says it looks like a classic
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: FBI tickle-the-wire operation. After FBI agents contact Wiles, the Bureau
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: tracks phone calls to identify who she immediately contacts. In
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: other words, they reach out, they ask Susie Wiles some questions.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Susie Wiles probably says, yeah, I'm not going to talk
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: to the FBI. Then they watch her phone records. The
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: next phone call she makes is probably to one of
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: the legal advisers. or lawyers on the campaign, and that
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: gives them the opportunity to be able to track that
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: number next. On 10th April 2023, FBI Washington field office
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: reviewed Weill's telephonic activity to determine contacts of interest on
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: the data for FBI interview. That's according to declassified records
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: to the White House Transparency Task Force. That's a force
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: that the aforementioned John Solomon is part of leading right now.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: More Catherine Herridge. Did I mention how you should be
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: following and promoting her work? Declassified Records, Brennan-Jack Smith connection. Remember,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: John Brennan was the CIA director under Barack Obama. Meeting
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: at CIA headquarters, FBI notes are blank. On November 2023,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: former CIA director John Brennan met with special counsel staff
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: and FBI agents. The former director of the CIA, now
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: in his private life, MSNBC contributor John Brennan, in the
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: third year, the second year of, yes, third year, of
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: the Biden administration when Jack Smith's investigation is hitting full steam,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: attempting to indict Donald Trump and keep him from running
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: for president. The former CIA director met with Jack Smith
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: and FBI agents in Washington, D.C. Purpose of the meeting
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: was to discuss expert testimony. Expert testimony. John Brennan is
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: your expert witness.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: Really?
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Is that what we think this meeting was about? to
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: national defense information on the forthcoming trial. Was Brennan being
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: prepped as potential expert witness in Trump classified documents case?
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Former senior FBI agents looks like an Intel op, not
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: a law enforcement probe made the FBI notes disappear. That's right.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: We're going to get back to that video in just
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: 30 seconds, but first the people we elect this year
• 6:45
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• 6:49
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• 6:51
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• 6:54
  Speaker 1: for groceries and prescriptions. Now, you may not agree with
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: AARP on every issue, but they are standing up for
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Social Security, and you can too. Raise your hand as
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: a Social Security voter. Sign on at aarp.org slash Social
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Security voter. That's aarp.org slash Social Security voter. Now, back
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: to the video. Other three potential scenarios, according to Herridge,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: FBI agents took no notes violating longstanding bureau procedures. So
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: you're meeting with the former director of the CIA who
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: was all wrapped up in the Russian collusion hoax. Why
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: does this matter? Can I just pull another thread for
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: you here? The Russian collusion hoax is the centerpiece of
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: the FBI documents that Donald Trump had in his possession
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: in Mar-a-Lago. When the FBI raided him in the early
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: morning hours of what year? 2023, I believe it was,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: wasn't it? Sure it was. I believe it was. Could
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: it be that CIA Director John Brennan may have been
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: talking to Jack Smith and FBI officials to tell them
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: what documents needed to be seized from Donald Trump down
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: in Mar-a-Lago with regard to the Russian collusion hoax and
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: the fingerprints of the Obama administration?
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: Could be.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: That would make sense. You know what we should do?
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: We should look at the notes that the FBI agents
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: during that meeting so we can see if that ever
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: came up. Because, you know, based on policy and procedure,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: FBI officials who are in the middle of a meeting
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: like this would always take notes. So there's a transparent
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: paper trail for people after the fact to find out
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: if they were up to no good. So let's take
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: a look at those notes. Oh, they didn't take any notes.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: That's weird, isn't it? Yeah, it sure is. FBI agents
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: took notes which were intentionally withheld so Brennan conversation was
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: not discoverable for President Trump's lawyers. That's right. They do
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: that all the time. FBI agents' original notes were electronically
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: buried in a restricted file. Those are the three options
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: here as to why there doesn't seem to be any notes.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: The FBI or electronic communication documents the 2023 Brennan meeting
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: at CIA headquarters. The original agent notes will be maintained
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: in the attached 1A missing link. There should be a
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: summary of the meeting discussion known as an FBI 302 document.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Brennan has consistently defended his actions in court and in
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: front of Congress. Okay, so that's all very interesting, right?
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: But there's something even more interesting about that. Julie Kelly,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: independent journalist who's all over the J6 investigation, as well
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: as Russian Collusion Oaks, realized something here. Hold on a minute.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: Meeting between Jack Smith and the FBI agents. And again,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: let's just be clear here what it says. November, 2023,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: former CIA director John Brennan meets with special counsel staff
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: FBI agents, right? Well, Julie Kelly points out Chuck Grassley
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: asked Jack Smith if he had received consultation or counsel
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: from former CIA Director John Brennan. After a pause, Smith replied,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: I've never met John Brennan. That's true. That's exactly what
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: he said.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: Watch. Have you ever received any consultation or counsel by
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: John Brennan, former CIA Director, whether during your time as
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: special counsel or otherwise? If so, when and for what purpose?
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  Speaker 1: One, two, three, four.
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  Speaker 2: I've never met John Brennan.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: So it takes him four seconds to decide what kind
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: of answer to give. Now, the question was, did you
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: receive any counsel from John Brennan? His answer is, I've
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: never met John Brennan, which could be factually accurate, right?
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: Okay. Have you ever? Well, I guess you've answered my
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: follow-up question.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Why did Chuck Grassley respond that way just now? You see,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: you have to understand, you always hear the old trope
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: that a lawyer should never ask a question in a
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: trial that he doesn't already know the answer to. In
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: many respects, the same goes for a hearing like this.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Chuck Grassley's been around a long time, and he's no fool,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: especially when it comes to these kind of hearings. So
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: watch again.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: I've never met John Brennan.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: Okay. Have you ever? Well, I guess you've answered my question.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: follow-up question?
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: See, he wasn't expecting that answer because he was expecting
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: the answer to be yes. We had one meeting, our
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: staff did, with John Brennan specifically to get counsel on
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: certain aspects of this. In fact, we were prepping him
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: or talking to him as a potential expert witness for
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: national security purposes because that's what these documents over here
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: that we were just looking at suggest, right? Here it is,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: and there's the actual documents. Here's the problem. Jack Smith
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: just decided to answer that question too clever by half.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Did you, the special counsel, ever receive consultation from John Brennan?
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: The answer is, I've never met John Brennan. Well, that's
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: not really an answer to the question, is it? Because
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: you can receive counsel from John Brennan without ever having
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: to meet him. And Chuck Grassley knew that. And Chuck
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Grassley knew that there was a meeting. Whether Jack Smith
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: was in the meeting or not, it doesn't matter. His
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: staff operates on his behalf and when he's the special counsel,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: and if they take a meeting and specifically get consultation
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: from John Brennan, that means that the special prosecutor is
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: getting consultation, whether he meets him or not. You see
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: what happened there? I hope you saw what happened there.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: As Julie Culley continues, he knew at the time that
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: his team had met with Brennan in late 23 under
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: the guise of Brennan serving as an expert witness in
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: the Backman's case. Really wish the names of the prosecutors
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: were not redacted, but I'm guessing they're J. Brett, David Harbuck,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: and J.P. Cooney or James Pierce. Thank God Judge Cannon
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: shut down this farce. Not sure about who those special
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: counsels are, those assistants. Julie Kelly knows more about this
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: than anybody does. That's pretty amazing, don't you think? And
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: let's not forget, later on in his prepared statement, Jack
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: Smith said this about the charges that were brought against
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump in particular.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: I stand by my decisions as special counsel, including my
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: decision to bring charges against President Trump. I made those
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: decisions without regard to President Trump's political associations, activities, beliefs,
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election. Our investigation developed
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: serious crimes against our nation.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: There you go.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: And I mean, how can you not believe Jack Smith,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: as he's already told us, that he's not political in
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: any way, and he did not take politics into consideration
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: when bringing charges against Donald Trump. And I believe him.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: He's the last remaining man in Washington, D.C. that has
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: a whole lot of power, but actually has no political
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: opinions one way or the other. That's great. And it's
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: really admirable for him. The only problem is here he
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: was this weekend at Bruce Springsteen's big anti-Trump, I hate Trump,
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: no Kings, anti-fascist Republicans or Nazis concert. He's even wearing
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: a T-shirt that says Land of Hope and Dreams, no Kings.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: But wait a second. I'm confused. And maybe someone can
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: help me out here. Because how can Jack Smith, the
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: last remaining nonpartisan, completely unbiased man with enormous amounts of power,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: such power that he even thought he could bring criminal
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: charges against a former president of the United States, how
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: can a man that has no political leanings whatsoever also
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: wear a No Kings shirt at a completely anti-Trump, anti-Republican
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Bruce Springsteen concert fundraiser to break the fascist Republicans down
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: in Washington, D.C. Does that make sense to you? Maybe
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: you can help me out on that, because last I
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: checked in with Jack Smith, he was saying stuff like this.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: I am not a politician and I have no partisan loyalty.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: My career has been dedicated to serving our country by
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: upholding the rule of law and the core principles upon
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: which our country was founded. I believe there is no
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: role for politics in the proper administration of justice. A
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: prosecutor's decisions must be based on the facts and the law.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Hey, man, there's nothing political about going to a No
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Kings rally or a No Kings concert. There's nothing political
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: about Bruce Springsteen. Come on, man. That's just pro-American. The
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: second No Kings is interpreted as a political statement, you know,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: we've lost it here in this country. Am I right? Yeah.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, come on. Everybody I know and associate with,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: they all agree with me. There should be no kings
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: and Trump is a fascist. That's not political, man. That's
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: that's Jack Smith. That's Jack Smith, a special prosecutor appointed
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: by Merrick Garland at the demand of Joe Biden to
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: imprison Donald Trump and make sure he couldn't run for
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: election in 2024. Boy, oh, boy, oh, boy. It's amazing
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: what transparency will show us.