Republicans failed to uncover any wrongdoing by the special counsel to the Biden Justice Department, Jack Smith, who investigated President Donald Trump, say the news media. “Republicans wanted Jack Smith to give them a smoking gun,” read a Politico headline on a hearing yesterday. “They got a gaffe instead.” ABC News told readers that the Republicans lacked evidence. “The Justice Department and FBI have also handed over scores of records from Smith’s probes to Republican lawmakers who have released them in piecemeal disclosures alleging, without evidence,” claimed ABC, “that they expose corruption or otherwise unethical behavior by Smith’s investigative team.”
But it’s not hard to imagine how differently the media would have responded if Trump’s Justice Department, rather than Biden’s, had collected text messages between nearly 50 journalists and White House officials, 4,782 checks written by small donors, and text messages from 44 members of Congress, which is what Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley’s records show Smith did.
Indeed, one need not try since we have three examples to choose from that put the media’s double standard on bright display.