Ric Grenell, former acting director of National Intelligence in the Donald Trump administration, told Newsmax that special counsel Jack Smith's investigation regarding classified documents in the possession of the former president only highlights a "two-tiered justice system" that's become "a crisis in this country."
While appearing on Thursday's edition of "Rob Schmitt Tonight," Grenell responded to reported leaks made by Smith's investigators, who claimed that federal prosecutors had obtained an audio recording in the summer of 2021 in which Trump acknowledged possessing a classified document about a potential attack on Iran.
"These people leak all the time," Grenell told host Rob Schmitt. "They're trying to leak because they really don't have anything on the president.
"We have to be quite clear that Jack Smith is very political," he continued. "He's very partisan, he hates Donald Trump, [and] he's got a long history with trying to get Trump.
Grenell recalled his time as Trump's presidential envoy during negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia in 2020, and how Smith "came after" Hashim Thaçi, the-then president of Kosovo who was being investigated over war crime accusations, "because he was trying to negotiate a deal in the Oval Office with Donald Trump."
"This is a man who has manipulated investigations. Jack Smith ... is a guy who will stop at nothing to manipulate the situation in order to get what he wants politically," Grenell said.
The former acting National Intelligence director said that Smith's latest actions against Trump "only emphasizes that we have a two-tiered justice system, and it is a terrible thing. We need Democrats, Republicans, reporters, [all] political types to understand that we have a crisis in this country when you have a two-tiered justice system."
Schmitt underscored Grenell's point when he said that there has been little to no investigative follow-up on the classified documents regarding Ukraine that were found in January in President Joe Biden's garage and office — presumably taken while he was vice president and his son, Hunter, was sitting on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings Ltd.
In 2018, a whistleblower came forward to former U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins, alleging evidence the Bidens had been paid to protect Burisma from the Ukrainian government.
"Totally, and we have a congressman who's got even more evidence, clearly," Grenell said. "What really is irritating is to hear that this document has been around since 2020. Now ask yourself, 'Why didn't this leak?' Because the intelligence agencies have a real credibility problem on their hands, because they're only leaking against one party.
"The partisanship within the intel community is well known. They've got a credibility problem," he added. After calling on Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines "to get to the bottom of this," he also asked, "Why is [Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation] Chris Wray holding back information that clearly the congressman and others are telling us is problematic?"
Grenell also emphasized one point that Schmitt made during the conversation: "Joe Biden was the vice president. He had no declassification authority to take any of those documents, and we are finding that he's had them for years. Years. Donald Trump had full declassification authority as president of the United States."
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