Speaker Johnson raps DOJ for targeting Trump, says ‘stay tuned’ for plan to rein in special counsel

House Speaker Mike Johnson accused the Department of Justice on Wednesday of being weaponized against former President Donald Trump, and promised that details for his plan to reel in special counsel Jack Smith would be coming soon.

Mr. Johnson’s sentiment comes after a stop in New York Tuesday to defend the former president in the midst of his hush money trial, where he vowed to investigate the prosecutors involved in the case.

The Louisiana Republican said that the Democrat-led DOJ, under the direction of Attorney General Merrick Garland, has used the legal system to go after the political opponents of President Biden.

“I think that they have used our system of justice against political opponents, of course the most prominent of which is Donald J. Trump,” Mr. Johnson said.

He argued that the ongoing trial in Manhattan was over something “not even easily defined as a crime.” Mr. Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in order to stamp out lurid claims of his sex life. Mr. Johnson noted that DOJ officials had the opportunity to bring charges against the former president years ago, but never did.

“They did not bring charges because there was nothing there,” Mr. Johnson said. “Now they’ve done so. Why? Because Trump is running for president again, this is repeated across the system.”

The speaker used Mr. Smith as an example of where so-called abuse in the DOJ pops up throughout the system, just a day after declaring that he was working with the House Oversight and Accountability and Judiciary committees to rein in the prosecutor.

Mr. Johnson pondered how lawmakers could correct alleged abuses in the special counsel’s office. Defunding Mr. Smith’s operation, which conservatives have suggested would be the best option, would not be easy to do, he said, because Congress does not directly control the funding that flows to the special counsel.

“We haven’t yet come to a consensus on what that really looks like, but we are actively discussing that even today among members,” Mr. Johnson said. “Stay tuned on that pitch.”