Donald Trump faced intense backlash on Sunday after suggesting in a social media post that the Watergate scandal was an “illegal hoax,” marking another attempt by the president to rewrite established historical events. The controversial statement came as part of an attack on Senator Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who played a prominent role in Trump’s first impeachment proceedings.
The president’s claim about Watergate, the political scandal that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation in August 1974, drew swift condemnation from political observers and historians who noted the extensive documentation and legal proceedings that validated the investigation’s findings. The scandal involved a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters and subsequent cover-up attempts that ultimately brought down the Nixon administration.
Trump’s revisionist commentary comes amid ongoing tensions with federal law enforcement and former prosecutors who have investigated his activities. Former special counsel Jack Smith, who recently completed his investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, defended his work in a rare interview conducted on October 9, 2025, at University College London.
Smith firmly rejected suggestions that political considerations influenced his prosecutorial decisions. According to Smith, “The idea that politics would play a role in big cases like this, it’s absolutely ludicrous.” He emphasized that throughout his career as a prosecutor, political considerations had never factored into charging decisions.
The former special counsel described how his early supervisor would have reacted to any suggestion of politically motivated prosecutions, indicating that such considerations would have resulted in immediate dismissal from his position. Smith noted that the prosecutors he worked with had served in both Republican and Democratic administrations and maintained the highest levels of integrity.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan requested on October 14, 2025, that Smith testify before the panel regarding his investigations into Trump. Jordan accused the former special counsel of conducting politically motivated investigations and demanded an interview by October 28, 2025, along with documents and communications related to the cases.
In his letter to Smith, Jordan claimed the testimony was necessary to understand what he characterized as the weaponization of federal law enforcement by the previous administration. The House Judiciary Committee chairman specifically cited the FBI’s release of information showing that investigators had sought phone toll records of several Republican senators around the time of the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Smith’s investigation had extensively examined Trump and his allies’ pressure campaign on lawmakers to block the certification of the 2020 election results. The toll records sought by investigators would not have included information about the content of any conversations but were part of the broader examination of events surrounding January 6.
Both Smith and former Attorney General Merrick Garland repeatedly maintained that none of their actions in either the classified documents investigation or the probe into Trump’s efforts to challenge his 2020 election loss were driven by political considerations. Both federal cases against Trump were dropped following his reelection victory in November 2024, in accordance with longstanding Department of Justice policy prohibiting the prosecution of sitting presidents.
Smith distinguished his case against Trump from the classified documents investigation involving former President Joe Biden, explaining that Trump’s case involved what he termed obstructive conduct. He detailed evidence of willfulness in Trump’s possession of classified documents, including public statements claiming ownership of the materials and resistance to government efforts to retrieve them before any criminal investigation began.
The former special counsel expressed concerns about current developments at the Department of Justice, characterizing recent actions as unprecedented. He referenced the dismissal of corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams and the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey as examples of concerning prosecutorial decisions.
Smith warned that attacks on public servants would have incalculable costs for the country, particularly targeting nonpartisan civil servants. He emphasized that prosecutors and judges should not view their positions as popularity contests and need space to make decisions that some people might not like.
Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, noted the irony of Jordan’s demand for Smith’s testimony occurring shortly after Trump’s handpicked acting U.S. attorney indicted New York Attorney General Letitia James. Raskin characterized the request as potentially providing transparency regarding Smith’s investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
Sources:
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/buffalo/news/2025/10/15/in-rare-interview-jack-smith-says-his-cases-against-trump-were-free-from-politics–as-house-gop-seeks-his-testimony
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/house-judiciary-chairman-jim-jordan-calls-jack-smith/story?id=126518130
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jack-smith-speaks-trump-administration-rare-interview-rcna237688
