Grassley says Smith subpoenaed nearly 5,000 checks from Trump

Nearly five thousand checks. Let that number sit for a second. Jack Smith’s “Arctic Frost” probe into Donald Trump ended with no conviction, but it left a trail of ordinary Americans whose bank account details and routing numbers were handed over to the Biden administration. These are people who never faced charges, never got a lawyer, and probably never even knew their private financial records were being sifted through. Grassley only got to see the tip of the iceberg because he asked the right questions, and even that was too much.

This is what happens when prosecutors go fishing with a subpoena instead of a warrant. Smith wanted to find something on Trump, so he pulled in a mountain of checks and let the net widen until it caught thousands of innocent people. A fishing expedition dressed up as justice is still a fishing expedition. The fact that this happened under the Justice Department’s watch should bother everyone, regardless of party. If the government can quietly collect your bank records just because it’s investigating a former president, it can do it to anyone.

Chuck Grassley did exactly what a committee chairman is supposed to do. He put Smith under oath and forced the question: why did you need nearly five thousand ordinary people’s financial records? The answer matters, but the damage is already done. Those Americans can’t un-share their banking information. The least we owe them is a real accounting from the people responsible and a reminder that prosecutors are not above the law either.

Maybe Smith will claim this was all standard practice. Maybe he’ll say the checks were somehow relevant to his investigation. That’s exactly the problem. Standard practice in Washington.