WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.240 Welcome back to the deep dive. This is where 00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:04.320 we take the source materials you give us and 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:06.660 well, we try to give you the fastest path to 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:08.939 really understanding what's going on. And today 00:00:08.939 --> 00:00:10.740 we are going straight to the source. No cable 00:00:10.740 --> 00:00:14.019 news clips, no opinion pieces. Nope. Today we 00:00:14.019 --> 00:00:16.899 are digging into the deposition transcript of 00:00:16.899 --> 00:00:19.679 former special counsel Jack Smith. That's right. 00:00:19.719 --> 00:00:21.539 We're looking at his testimony from December 00:00:21.539 --> 00:00:25.019 17th, 2025 before the House Judiciary Committee. 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:27.829 This was a This was part of their whole oversight 00:00:27.829 --> 00:00:30.370 investigation into the so -called weaponization 00:00:30.370 --> 00:00:33.710 of the Justice Department. And it is a huge document. 00:00:33.729 --> 00:00:36.030 I mean, it covers everything from really technical 00:00:36.030 --> 00:00:39.689 legal arguments and procedural rules to the, 00:00:39.689 --> 00:00:42.350 frankly, shocking details of the cases themselves. 00:00:42.789 --> 00:00:44.609 So our mission today is to kind of distill all 00:00:44.609 --> 00:00:46.729 of that down. Exactly. We want to synthesize 00:00:46.729 --> 00:00:48.850 the legal defense, the facts, the procedural 00:00:48.850 --> 00:00:51.710 fights, all of it and give you a clear, impartial 00:00:51.710 --> 00:00:53.789 narrative. We really have to cut through the 00:00:53.789 --> 00:00:56.549 political noise on this one. It's about understanding 00:00:56.549 --> 00:00:59.270 the precise legal arguments Smith was making, 00:00:59.770 --> 00:01:01.869 the principles he used to justify the charges, 00:01:02.469 --> 00:01:04.969 and, you know, looking at some of the more controversial 00:01:04.969 --> 00:01:07.609 steps his team took. Okay, let's jump right in 00:01:07.609 --> 00:01:10.090 then. Let's start with how he framed his job, 00:01:10.390 --> 00:01:12.790 his mandate, and how he defended the integrity 00:01:12.790 --> 00:01:15.189 of his office. So he confirmed his appointment 00:01:15.189 --> 00:01:18.930 was back in November 2022, and he was there to 00:01:18.930 --> 00:01:22.180 investigate two main things. two big areas. First 00:01:22.180 --> 00:01:25.000 was the whole effort to interfere with the transfer 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:28.239 of power after the 2020 election. Right. And 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:30.859 the second was the retention, the possession 00:01:30.859 --> 00:01:33.659 of all those highly classified documents. And 00:01:33.659 --> 00:01:36.239 when he was pressed on the motivation for even 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:39.140 bringing these charges, his defense of his office's 00:01:39.140 --> 00:01:41.959 integrity was absolute. It was. He maintained 00:01:41.959 --> 00:01:45.120 the decision was his and his alone. He said, 00:01:45.159 --> 00:01:47.560 and this is a quote, that the need for charges 00:01:47.560 --> 00:01:50.109 rested entirely with President Trump and his 00:01:50.109 --> 00:01:51.989 actions. He went even further than that, didn't 00:01:51.989 --> 00:01:53.609 he? He claimed he would have brought the exact 00:01:53.609 --> 00:01:56.250 same charges against any former president. Any 00:01:56.250 --> 00:01:58.609 former president? Yeah. He specified Republican 00:01:58.609 --> 00:02:00.709 or Democrat. It wouldn't have mattered if the 00:02:00.709 --> 00:02:03.189 evidence was the same. I mean, in this political 00:02:03.189 --> 00:02:05.989 climate, that's a pretty bold thing to say. And 00:02:05.989 --> 00:02:08.729 to back it up, he didn't just rely on his own 00:02:08.729 --> 00:02:12.330 word. He very deliberately aligned himself with 00:02:12.330 --> 00:02:15.090 what's known as the Robert Jackson standard. 00:02:15.389 --> 00:02:18.460 From 1940. It's a famous set of principles for 00:02:18.460 --> 00:02:21.280 prosecutors. It is. And Smith agreed completely 00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:24.699 that a prosecutor must, quote, seek truth and 00:02:24.699 --> 00:02:27.979 not victims who serves the law and not factional 00:02:27.979 --> 00:02:30.580 purposes. But what does that mean in practice, 00:02:31.060 --> 00:02:33.719 citing a standard from the 40s? Well, it's a 00:02:33.719 --> 00:02:35.699 strategic move. He was emphasizing two things. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:38.400 First, Jackson said you only take on cases where 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:40.780 the offense is the most flagrant, the public 00:02:40.780 --> 00:02:42.800 harm the greatest, and the proof the most certain. 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:45.000 So by saying that, he's telling the committee 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:47.819 he believes both the election case and the documents 00:02:47.819 --> 00:02:50.639 case clear that really high bar. That's exactly 00:02:50.639 --> 00:02:52.300 what he's saying. He's arguing these weren't 00:02:52.300 --> 00:02:54.819 marginal calls. He also addressed the idea that 00:02:54.819 --> 00:02:57.099 he, you know, came in with a preconceived outcome. 00:02:57.400 --> 00:03:00.020 Right, the allegation that it was a setup from 00:03:00.020 --> 00:03:03.159 the start. And he testified he would have been 00:03:03.159 --> 00:03:05.960 perfectly comfortable just walking away if the 00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:08.960 facts and the law didn't support a case. To really 00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:10.939 drive that point home, he gave a very specific 00:03:10.939 --> 00:03:13.500 example, didn't he, about non -partisanship? 00:03:13.699 --> 00:03:16.280 He did. He talked about removing an FBI agent 00:03:16.280 --> 00:03:18.800 from the investigation. Why? After reviewing 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:21.360 the agent's private emails, it turned out the 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:24.460 agent was in a, you know, a partisan argument 00:03:24.460 --> 00:03:26.759 with some family members about January 6th. Wait, 00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:29.259 hold on. Private emails. The common critique 00:03:29.259 --> 00:03:31.960 is that his office was too political, but isn't 00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:34.539 removing an agent for a private family dispute, 00:03:34.919 --> 00:03:36.740 I mean, isn't that a little paranoid about the 00:03:36.740 --> 00:03:39.539 optics? He must have known the criticism was 00:03:39.539 --> 00:03:42.659 coming. He made a point to stress that the agent 00:03:42.659 --> 00:03:45.580 had done nothing partisan on the job. Absolutely 00:03:45.580 --> 00:03:47.759 nothing. So what was the justification? He said 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:50.159 it was about the absolute necessity of maintaining 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:53.199 the integrity and the public perception of integrity 00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:56.400 of the investigation. The perceived bias was 00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:59.879 too big a risk. It was a preemptive move to show 00:03:59.879 --> 00:04:02.639 his team and the public that politics just wasn't 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:04.610 going to be part of it. That definitely sets 00:04:04.610 --> 00:04:07.210 the stage. So if he defended the process that 00:04:07.210 --> 00:04:09.810 hard, we have to look at the substance. Let's 00:04:09.810 --> 00:04:12.830 dig into the legal theories, starting with the 00:04:12.830 --> 00:04:14.949 election interference case. Yeah, the one that's 00:04:14.949 --> 00:04:16.509 always getting tangled up with the First Amendment. 00:04:16.689 --> 00:04:19.370 Right. So what was his argument there? Smith 00:04:19.370 --> 00:04:21.889 was very clear on this. The case was not about 00:04:21.889 --> 00:04:24.810 limiting free speech. He said Trump was free 00:04:24.810 --> 00:04:27.310 to say he thought he won. He was even free to 00:04:27.310 --> 00:04:30.209 say he falsely won. So what was the crime then? 00:04:30.509 --> 00:04:33.069 The charge, according to Smith, was about violating 00:04:33.069 --> 00:04:36.209 federal law by using knowingly false statements 00:04:36.209 --> 00:04:39.009 about election fraud to target a lawful government 00:04:39.009 --> 00:04:41.649 function. And you used that phrase, affinity 00:04:41.649 --> 00:04:44.269 fraud. That feels very intentional. Oh, it is. 00:04:44.459 --> 00:04:46.480 Affinity fraud is usually a financial crime. 00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:49.079 It's where a scammer targets a specific group 00:04:49.079 --> 00:04:51.079 they belong to, like a religious community or 00:04:51.079 --> 00:04:53.660 a club, because there's built -in trust. So he's 00:04:53.660 --> 00:04:56.180 drawing a parallel. Exactly. He's using that 00:04:56.180 --> 00:04:59.100 metaphor to argue the scheme was based on preying 00:04:59.100 --> 00:05:01.779 on the trust of his political base by feeding 00:05:01.779 --> 00:05:04.639 them claims he knew were false. That's how he 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:07.459 argues. It crosses the line from political speech 00:05:07.459 --> 00:05:11.180 into criminal deception. And the interesting 00:05:11.180 --> 00:05:14.319 thing is the case wasn't just built on his team's 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:16.920 interpretation. It was built on the testimony 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:20.379 of Republicans. That's the core of it. Smith 00:05:20.379 --> 00:05:22.899 stressed that the investigation relied on testimony 00:05:22.899 --> 00:05:25.819 from prominent Republicans, many of whom were 00:05:25.819 --> 00:05:28.300 loyal allies. He named names, right? He did. 00:05:28.439 --> 00:05:30.899 The speaker of the House in Michigan, the speaker 00:05:30.899 --> 00:05:33.759 in Arizona, a former Republican congressman from 00:05:33.759 --> 00:05:36.579 Pennsylvania, all of them testified that they 00:05:36.579 --> 00:05:38.579 rejected the plan because they believed it was 00:05:38.579 --> 00:05:41.500 illegal or based on things they knew for a fact 00:05:41.500 --> 00:05:44.519 were not true. So they were the key witnesses 00:05:44.519 --> 00:05:47.319 for the knowingly false part of the charge. Precise. 00:05:47.620 --> 00:05:49.899 Now, the committee pushed him on the investigations 00:05:49.899 --> 00:05:51.800 approach. You know, why not start from the bottom 00:05:51.800 --> 00:05:53.800 up and charge co -conspirators first? Right. 00:05:53.819 --> 00:05:55.500 The typical way you'd build a conspiracy case. 00:05:55.560 --> 00:05:58.139 So what was his defense? He said the evidence 00:05:58.139 --> 00:06:00.220 made it clear that Trump was, and this is his 00:06:00.220 --> 00:06:03.040 quote, by a large measure the most culpable and 00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:05.939 most responsible person in this conspiracy. He 00:06:05.939 --> 00:06:08.040 felt they had to focus on the central figure. 00:06:08.540 --> 00:06:11.319 Okay, let's pivot to the other case, the classified 00:06:11.319 --> 00:06:15.819 documents. This one had just a mountain of physical 00:06:15.819 --> 00:06:18.160 evidence. And some pretty unforgettable details. 00:06:19.399 --> 00:06:21.699 Smith went through the alleged willful retention 00:06:21.699 --> 00:06:24.540 of these highly classified documents after the 00:06:24.540 --> 00:06:26.709 presidency ended. And the storage conditions. 00:06:26.949 --> 00:06:28.649 I mean, everyone remembers the photos from the 00:06:28.649 --> 00:06:31.129 indictment. It's hard to forget. We're talking 00:06:31.129 --> 00:06:33.649 about top secret documents being kept at a social 00:06:33.649 --> 00:06:37.490 club, specifically on a ballroom stage and, yes, 00:06:37.649 --> 00:06:40.189 in a bathroom and shower. The detail about the 00:06:40.189 --> 00:06:42.389 boxes being separated from the shower by just 00:06:42.389 --> 00:06:45.550 a curtain, it's just mind boggling. But beyond 00:06:45.550 --> 00:06:48.629 the visuals, the real legal danger was the obstruction 00:06:48.629 --> 00:06:51.449 charge. Absolutely. Smith laid out a very clear 00:06:51.449 --> 00:06:53.470 timeline of alleged abstraction that started 00:06:53.470 --> 00:06:57.089 right after the grand jury subpoena in May 2022. 00:06:57.470 --> 00:07:00.029 What were the key events? He detailed how 64 00:07:00.029 --> 00:07:02.209 boxes were apparently moved out of a storage 00:07:02.209 --> 00:07:03.930 room before an attorney came to review them. 00:07:03.930 --> 00:07:06.870 And then? And then only 30 of those boxes were 00:07:06.870 --> 00:07:09.310 returned for the search. That alone seems like 00:07:09.310 --> 00:07:11.089 pretty strong evidence of trying to hide something. 00:07:11.470 --> 00:07:15.009 It is, but it gets even more specific. Smith 00:07:15.009 --> 00:07:17.750 described an attempt to delete security camera 00:07:17.750 --> 00:07:19.910 footage later that summer. Right, the server. 00:07:20.209 --> 00:07:23.170 Yeah. The testimony covered evidence that an 00:07:23.170 --> 00:07:26.410 employee, a Mr. D. Olivera, was told that the 00:07:26.410 --> 00:07:29.069 boss wanted the server deleted. And he refused. 00:07:29.269 --> 00:07:30.910 He refused. Said he didn't have the authority. 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:34.680 But that conversation became, you know, a cornerstone 00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:36.959 of the obstruction charge. Which all led up to 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:40.680 the court authorized search in August 2022. Correct. 00:07:40.740 --> 00:07:42.560 And during that search, Smith confirmed they 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:45.560 recovered another 102 documents with classification 00:07:45.560 --> 00:07:49.300 markings. We're talking top secret, secret, the 00:07:49.300 --> 00:07:51.800 works. So that combination, the sheer volume 00:07:51.800 --> 00:07:53.939 of documents and the evidence of obstruction, 00:07:54.379 --> 00:07:56.060 that was the foundation of that indictment. That 00:07:56.060 --> 00:07:58.060 was the whole case right there. OK. This brings 00:07:58.060 --> 00:08:00.560 us to a major point of contention for the committee. 00:08:00.839 --> 00:08:04.759 Section three, the investigative methods. Specifically, 00:08:04.980 --> 00:08:06.839 getting toll records for members of Congress. 00:08:07.060 --> 00:08:09.680 Yes. Smith confirmed his office got what are 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:11.779 called non -content toll records for several 00:08:11.779 --> 00:08:14.439 members of Congress and their staff. People like 00:08:14.439 --> 00:08:16.620 staff for Congressman Gohmert and some senators. 00:08:16.980 --> 00:08:18.560 Okay, let's stop there because this is really 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:21.259 important. We need to be crystal clear for you 00:08:21.259 --> 00:08:24.439 on what this means. What are non -content toll 00:08:24.439 --> 00:08:27.879 records? It's a crucial distinction. It's basically 00:08:27.879 --> 00:08:30.319 the metadata of a phone call. Think of it like 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:32.879 a phone bill. So it shows which number, called 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:36.019 which number. And when and for how long. But, 00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:39.200 and this is the key, it contains zero content. 00:08:39.980 --> 00:08:42.879 No recording, no transcript of what was said. 00:08:43.320 --> 00:08:45.580 Smith directly pushed back on the idea that they 00:08:45.580 --> 00:08:47.860 were wiretapping. He did. He called the assertion 00:08:47.860 --> 00:08:50.179 that they tapped the phone of Senator Hawley 00:08:50.179 --> 00:08:54.820 inaccurate. So the goal was just to confirm timelines 00:08:54.820 --> 00:08:57.539 and contacts related to the conspiracy, not to 00:08:57.539 --> 00:09:00.039 listen in on what Congress was doing. Exactly. 00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:02.539 The target was Trump and his co -conspirators. 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:04.820 The congressional records were just to corroborate 00:09:04.820 --> 00:09:06.919 things, like who Speaker McCarthy was talking 00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:08.899 to at the White House on January 6th. But the 00:09:08.899 --> 00:09:10.740 real controversy was about the non -disclosure 00:09:10.740 --> 00:09:13.519 orders, the NDOs. This meant the members of Congress 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:15.600 had no idea it was happening. Why is that such 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:17.779 a flash point? Because it stopped them from going 00:09:17.779 --> 00:09:20.919 to court to try and quash the subpoena. They 00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:22.720 could have argued it was protected by the speech 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:25.590 or debate clause. Which is a constitutional shield 00:09:25.590 --> 00:09:29.090 for legislative work. It is. So an NDO in this 00:09:29.090 --> 00:09:31.429 case meant Congress couldn't even make that argument. 00:09:31.549 --> 00:09:35.090 So what was Smith's defense for using them? He 00:09:35.090 --> 00:09:37.570 explained that NDOs are pretty standard in federal 00:09:37.570 --> 00:09:41.649 cases to prevent, you know, obstruction or evidence 00:09:41.649 --> 00:09:45.370 being destroyed. But he did admit a really critical 00:09:45.370 --> 00:09:47.669 detail about the policy at the time. What was 00:09:47.669 --> 00:09:49.909 that? He testified that when those subpoenas 00:09:49.909 --> 00:09:53.840 were issued, DOJ policy did not require prosecutors 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:56.539 to tell the judge that the phone number belonged 00:09:56.539 --> 00:09:59.720 to a sitting member of Congress. Wow. That seems 00:09:59.720 --> 00:10:01.679 like a pretty significant loophole when you're 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:03.539 talking about separation of powers. It does. 00:10:03.980 --> 00:10:06.220 And Smith acknowledged the policy has since been 00:10:06.220 --> 00:10:08.919 changed by the DOJ. So the committee's concerns 00:10:08.919 --> 00:10:11.600 were seen as valid, basically. It suggests they 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:14.139 were, yes. Even if the special counsel's actions 00:10:14.139 --> 00:10:16.320 were, you know, technically by the book as it 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:18.509 was written at that moment. This all leads us 00:10:18.509 --> 00:10:20.809 to the final section of his testimony, which 00:10:20.809 --> 00:10:24.509 was pretty stark. It dealt with the intense political 00:10:24.509 --> 00:10:27.470 pressure and the fallout his team faced. The 00:10:27.470 --> 00:10:29.730 hostility was very real. He confirmed that he 00:10:29.730 --> 00:10:32.250 actually asked to testify publicly. But the committee 00:10:32.250 --> 00:10:35.090 declined. This was all behind closed doors. Yes. 00:10:35.590 --> 00:10:38.789 And he said he wanted a public hearing to defend 00:10:38.789 --> 00:10:42.169 the career prosecutors and FBI agents who he 00:10:42.169 --> 00:10:45.639 said have been vilified wrongly. And he described 00:10:45.639 --> 00:10:48.039 direct professional retribution, didn't he? He 00:10:48.039 --> 00:10:50.759 did. Smith confirmed he and his staff had received 00:10:50.759 --> 00:10:53.480 threats. He also confirmed that actions were 00:10:53.480 --> 00:10:55.879 taken against his team. Security clearances revoked. 00:10:56.120 --> 00:10:58.080 Former colleagues fired from their jobs. He was 00:10:58.080 --> 00:10:59.960 also asked about the public attacks from the 00:10:59.960 --> 00:11:01.940 former president. Yes, he confirmed President 00:11:01.940 --> 00:11:04.399 Trump called him a deranged lunatic and a criminal. 00:11:04.919 --> 00:11:07.000 And Smith testified that he fully believes Trump 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:08.940 intends to seek personal retribution against 00:11:08.940 --> 00:11:11.580 him and his staff. That intense pressure brings 00:11:11.580 --> 00:11:14.519 us to a sort of a bigger institutional concern 00:11:14.519 --> 00:11:17.200 he raised, the future of the public integrity 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:20.519 section or PINN. This is a really important point. 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:23.980 He described PINN as the keeper of these issues 00:11:23.980 --> 00:11:26.840 inside the Justice Department. It's the section 00:11:26.840 --> 00:11:29.220 that handles complex public corruption cases 00:11:29.220 --> 00:11:32.639 and acts as the gatekeeper for sensitive investigations 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:36.059 involving Congress. So, if pinion gets dismantled, 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:39.220 what happens? Smith warned that losing that centralized 00:11:39.220 --> 00:11:42.179 expertise would just cripple the DOJ's ability 00:11:42.179 --> 00:11:44.879 to prosecute public corruption. He was worried 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:47.059 the standards would collapse and the whole process 00:11:47.059 --> 00:11:50.299 would become inconsistent and, well, easier to 00:11:50.299 --> 00:11:53.000 manipulate politically. Finally, they asked him 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:56.110 to connect all of this to public safety, specifically 00:11:56.110 --> 00:11:58.610 around the January 6th defendants. Yeah, in the 00:11:58.610 --> 00:12:01.269 context of former President Trump pardoning individuals 00:12:01.269 --> 00:12:03.710 who assaulted police officers that day. And he 00:12:03.710 --> 00:12:06.309 didn't hold back. Not at all. He stated very 00:12:06.309 --> 00:12:08.470 clearly that pardoning people who committed violence 00:12:08.470 --> 00:12:11.210 against police does not make the country safer. 00:12:11.909 --> 00:12:14.029 He said people who would be in jail are now free 00:12:14.029 --> 00:12:16.210 and he has no doubt we will see more serious 00:12:16.210 --> 00:12:18.360 crimes from them. So if we just step back and 00:12:18.360 --> 00:12:21.600 look at the whole deposition, it's really a detailed 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:24.639 point by point defense of the entire process. 00:12:24.980 --> 00:12:27.080 It is. He grounds everything in that Jackson 00:12:27.080 --> 00:12:29.379 standard, arguing the evidence was strong enough 00:12:29.379 --> 00:12:31.779 to get convictions from the Republican witnesses 00:12:31.779 --> 00:12:34.120 in one case to the obstruction evidence in the 00:12:34.120 --> 00:12:37.120 other. It was a full throated defense of prosecutorial 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:39.820 independence. So for you listening to all this, 00:12:39.980 --> 00:12:42.340 the central conflict, as Smith frames it, is 00:12:42.340 --> 00:12:45.559 this. When does political speech cross the line 00:12:45.559 --> 00:12:48.419 into a criminal scheme? And for him, the line 00:12:48.419 --> 00:12:51.539 is the use of knowingly false claims to subvert 00:12:51.539 --> 00:12:53.799 a lawful government function. That's the whole 00:12:53.799 --> 00:12:56.639 distinction, in his view. And he left the committee 00:12:56.639 --> 00:12:59.440 with a stark warning. He said if election interference 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:01.980 and obstruction aren't held accountable, it becomes 00:13:01.980 --> 00:13:04.720 the new norm. And he said the toll on democracy 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:07.059 would be catastrophic. So we'll leave you with 00:13:07.059 --> 00:13:09.700 a final thought to mull over. When you consider 00:13:09.700 --> 00:13:11.980 all the details we've just unpacked, the classified 00:13:11.980 --> 00:13:14.100 documents stored in a bathroom, the secret subpoenas 00:13:14.100 --> 00:13:16.139 for congressional phone records, the professional 00:13:16.139 --> 00:13:19.200 retribution against prosecutors, consider this. 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:23.100 What is the price society pays when the accountability 00:13:23.100 --> 00:13:25.960 process itself becomes the main focus of our 00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:28.480 political warfare, instead of the alleged crimes 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:29.720 it was set up to investigate?