Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, this week called Special Counsel Jack Smith "a weak little b****" as former President Donald Trump faces the possibility of new charges.
Her message followed an earlier statement by Trump posted on Truth Social in which he said he had received a letter from Smith informing him of a Department of Justice investigation into Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election that also allegedly caused the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
In the same tweet that she sent in response to the news, Greene alleged that Smith only ever attempted to prosecute Republicans.
The Claim
A tweet by Marjorie Taylor Greene, posted on July 18, 2023, viewed 1.2 million times, claimed that Special Counsel Jack Smith "only targets Republicans."
The tweet read: "Jack Smith is a lousy attorney.
"His career is filled with mistrials, overturned cases, and judicial rebukes.
"He only targets Republicans because he's a weak little b**** for the Democrats."
The Facts
Although many Republicans have shown their displeasure about Smith's handling of Trump's 37-count indictment regarding classified documents that were found at his Mar-a-Lago home last summer, Greene's claims that Smith has prosecuted only Republicans is simply incorrect.
In her tweet, Greene contends that Smith has a history of "mistrials, overturned cases, and judicial rebukes."
This is the same wording in the headline of an article in the Washington Times, published July 4, 2023, that lists some of the cases that Smith was involved in that were appealed or collapsed.
Among the cases that the website mentions, three involved Democratic politicians, contradicting Greene's claim. The three were former Democratic Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez and former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
From 2010 to 2015, Smith served as chief of the Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section, during which time he attempted to prosecute Edwards over donations allegedly designed to influence the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries that were in excess of federal contribution limits, The Hill reported.
The case was declared a mistrial, a jury acquitting him of one charge and failing to reach a verdict on five others, according to the The New York Times.
The federal corruption case against Menendez, which also collapsed following a mistrial, accused him of using his power and influence improperly to benefit a friend and campaign donor.
Silver, who died in 2022, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2016 for collecting millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks. Although the decision was overturned on appeal, Silver was retried and convicted in 2018, The New York Times reported.
Whatever the outcome of the charges that Smith handled, the main bone of contention that he does not "target" Democrats as Greene suggests is false.
Newsweek has reached out to a representative for Greene for comment.
The Ruling
False.
Marjorie Taylor Greene's accusation that Jack Smith presided over "mistrials, overturned cases, and judicial rebukes," is the exact wording from an article that lists Democrats Smith helped charge, contradicting Greene's claim that Smith "only targets Republicans."
While some of the cases ended in a mistrial, claiming Smith never attempts to target Democrats is wrong.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
Correction 07/20/2023, 5 a.m. ET: This article was updated with the date of Marjorie Taylor Greene's tweet: July 18, 2023, not 2018 as previously stated.
