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Mikel Oyarzabal comandó el triunfo de La Roja con un doblete, mientras Pedro Porro marcó su primer gol mundialista. España superó a Austria para avanzar a los octavos de final de la Copa Mundial de la FIFA 2026.

Jack Smith, the former special counsel who brought two federal indictments against President Donald Trump, said he believes the rule of law is under unprecedented attack during his first televised interview since resigning from the Justice Department.

Speaking to MS NOW’s Nicolle Wallace on Thursday, Smith said the attack is “different in kind and scope to anything I’ve seen in my lifetime.”

“I have investigated cases focusing on the facts and law throughout my career. We did this case the same way, under the same standards,” said Smith, who brought charges accusing Trump of interfering in the 2020 election.

Smith resigned from the DOJ before Trump returned to office in 2025.

In his interview with Wallace, Smith said he approached the investigation the same way he handled every case during his career: relying on the facts and the law rather than politics.

“I have investigated cases focusing on the facts and law throughout my career. We did this case the same way, under the same standards,” Smith told MS NOW.

“The thing that’s important for your viewers to know is those standards are not meant to change from one administration to the next, and in my experience — until now — they haven’t,” he added.

Before stepping down from the DOJ, Smith brought two cases against Trump. In the election interference case, Smith said Trump was culpable in the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after he lost to former President Joe Biden in the November election. The rioters were trying to stop the House from certifying the election results after Trump told them to march to the Capitol.

“I was perfectly happy to bring this case if the facts and law warranted it or not,” Smith said. “It hasn’t mattered what person’s political party was to do that, that’s how we went about our work. Completely apolitical. Politics did not play a role.”

Smith also said he is “very concerned” about the integrity of the next election and emphasized state attorneys general have a critical role in ensuring the rule of law is upheld in their states ahead of the midterm elections.

Smith also indicted Trump on federal criminal charges of retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Largo home in Florida after his first term ended. Smith declined to discuss the case, saying he was bound by a court order from the Florida judge overseeing the matter. 

“That report is under seal, and I don’t want to do anything that could be misconstrued as me not following court order,” he explained.

Smith was appointed special counsel in 2022 by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland to independently lead  the investigations.

Both criminal cases led to federal indictments but were ultimately dismissed after Trump won his second term, due to a long-standing DOJ policy that prevents sitting presidents from facing criminal prosecution.

The president and his allies have long accused Smith of “weaponizing” the DOJ for political retribution against Trump. Smith has faced intense attacks from Trump and his Republican allies on Capitol Hill, who mounted an aggressive probe into his work as special counsel, alleging that his investigations were politically motivated.

Smith sharply criticized the DOJ, arguing that it can no longer perform “the basic things you need to do to represent the American people in court,” adding that the department is “just not effective at doing their job anymore.”

Pressed on whether he feared speaking out, Smith responded defiantly, saying that he would “not be intimidated.”

“There’s no way in the world if the thought was to go after me, so that I wouldn’t speak up about the corruption that’s happening or speak up to defend these agents and prosecutors — that is a grave miscalculation. There is no way I’m going to be intimidated,” he said.

Smith also explained that he has no interest in making regular television appearances but that he would continue speaking publicly if he believed it could help.

“If there’s a way that I feel like I can be helpful, I’m going to do it, and that’s going to guide me,” he said.

Smith brushed aside the prospect of being indicted, saying he is not focused on Trump’s comments about him or on the possibility of facing charges.

 “I honestly do not spend a lot of time thinking about the things he says about me and his threats about me,” he said. “I’m real focused on the people who I worked with, looking out for them. I’m real focused on how the Justice Department is going to be better going forward, things like that.”

The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Smith to testify about the probes in December. In a 250-page transcript released after Smith sat for the eight-hour, closed-door deposition before the committee, the former special counsel rejected the accusations of political persecution.

In a heated five-hour hearing before the committee in January, Smith described the breadth of evidence he had collected against Trump during the prosecutions.

“Our proof showed that he caused what happened on Jan. 6,” Smith said of Trump during the hearing. “That it was foreseeable, and that he exploited that violence.” 

Trump condemned Smith on Truth Social during the hearing and called on then-Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate him.

Smith resigned in January 2025, days after completing a two-volume report on his findings in both cases. The first volume detailed the four felony charges against Trump related to alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election results. TheDOJ found that there was enough evidence to convict Trump of election interference by working to overthrow his loss to Biden.

But the release of the second volume, which detailed Trump’s alleged mishandling of sensitive government documents and obstruction of a related federal probe, was permanently blocked in February by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee.

The post Jack Smith says rule of law under unprecedented attack in first TV interview since resignation appeared first on MS NOW.

The Supreme Court’s decision expanding President Trump’s firing power is already headed for a test, as members of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) who were sacked by the president indicated Thursday they’ll keep fighting their terminations. Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka are arguing the NCUA is just like the Federal Reserve, which the high court has signaled…

A little under 1 in 3 Americans say they would be willing to back a democratic socialist in an election, according to a new poll. In The Economist/YouGov poll, 29 percent of respondents said they would be willing to cast their ballot for a democratic socialist, 45 percent said they wouldn’t and 26 percent were…

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Russia’s latest offensive in Ukraine: “Russia launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine’s capital overnight into Thursday that killed at least 13 people and injured scores as loud explosions shook Kyiv for hours. The attack with ballistic and cruise missiles and drones damaged buildings and civilian infrastructure across the city.”

* In the Strait of Hormuz: “Iran’s joint military command warned Thursday that all oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz must use its approved routes or face a ‘forceful response,’ again ratcheting up tensions over a waterway crucial for international energy supplies.”

* Jason Watson is an active-duty service member with a 20-year military career: “A U.S. Air Force major was arrested Wednesday for protesting alone on House steps as he called for the immediate impeachment and removal of President Donald Trump. Maj. Jason Watson was arrested by Capitol Police officers at approximately 1:15 p.m. local time for demonstrating on the House steps without a sitting member of Congress, Capitol Police told Military Times.”

* The right call: “A federal judge in Washington on Wednesday blocked the United States Postal Service from carrying out changes to its delivery of mail-in ballots, writing that recent policies directed by President Trump ran afoul of legal terms the agency accepted more than four years ago to ensure timely delivery of mail ballots.”

* Patel’s latest significant misstep: “FBI Director Kash Patel failed to properly disclose a six-figure purchase of stock in a bitcoin-fueled business intelligence and mobile software company that has contracted with the Department of Justice, according to federal financial records reviewed by NOTUS.”

* Making weather forecasts worse: “With massive job cuts, the National Weather Service is eliminating or reducing vital weather balloon launches in eight northern locations, which meteorologists and former agency leaders said will degrade the accuracy of forecasts just as severe weather season kicks in.”

* Oh my: “Fireworks for this year’s July Fourth celebration are expected to cause hazardous levels of pollution around the National Mall and ‘very unhealthy’ conditions in central D.C., according to internal National Park Service documents reviewed by The Washington Post. … The Park Service, in a separate document, similarly said that people should ‘wear an n95 mask when outdoors’ and ‘remain indoors as much as possible during and after the show.’”

I’ll be off tomorrow for the July 4th weekend, but MaddowBlog will return to its usual publishing schedule on Monday, July 6.

The post Thursday’s Mini-Report, 7.2.26 appeared first on MS NOW.

England roar into Sunday’s T20 World Cup final against Australia with a superb 40-run victory against South Africa at The Oval.

England roar into Sunday’s T20 World Cup final against Australia with a superb 40-run victory against South Africa at The Oval.

El técnico de España habló en entrevista post partido sobre el gran juego que tuvieron en contra de Austria, pero no se atrevió a decidirse sobre un próximo rival.

Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

The USMNT rallied a historic 24.4M U.S. viewers across Fox, FS1 and Tubi for its defeat of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The round of 32 victory is now the most-watched soccer telecast in English-Language U.S. history, peaking with nearly 32M viewers toward the end of the match. The USMNT has been driving historic U.S. viewership for […]

According to WHO data, there have been 1,406 confirmed cases of the disease in DRC, with 301 suspected cases and 438 deaths.

A crowd of people gathered at the Great American State Fair on Thursday stopped to gaze up at the sky as several fighter jets streaked over the National Mall. Blake Boggs crouched down to his young son’s stroller and pointed up. “You don’t get to see the Thunderbirds anywhere,” he told The Hill. Despite the…