A former aide to Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg appeared to confirm on CNN this week what many conservatives have long alleged—that a coordinated network of Democratic prosecutors and law enforcement officials was working with a shared partisan goal of securing a conviction against President Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 election.
Lis Smith, who previously served as a communications aide to Buttigieg, made the remarks while seated beside political commentator Scott Jennings. She also voiced frustration among Democrats over Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision to go along with a Republican-led continuing resolution in February to keep the government funded. Recent polling indicates that only one in three Democrats now view Schumer favorably.
“I agree with you: Democrats cannot only be the party of resistance,” she concurred with Jennings before speaking a little too candidly. “Like, we resisted so hard between 2017 and 2024. We impeached the guy–”
“Twice,” Jennings interjected. “We prosecuted him, convicted him on thirty-four felony counts,” she went on. “And guess what? He still got elected.” Sensing a vulnerability, Jennings asked Smith if the New York hush money case against Trump was “part of the organized Democratic Party resistance.” She confessed: “It was a Democratic prosecutor.”
That led Jennings to cheer his vindication on social media. “I can’t believe it. They finally admitted it on live TV: The prosecution of President Trump was an organized effort by the Democratic Party ‘resistance,’” he wrote on X while sharing the surreal clip. “Lawfare is real. The justice system was weaponized against President Trump.”
I can’t believe it. They finally admitted it on live TV:
The prosecution of President Trump was an organized effort by the Democratic Party “resistance.”
Lawfare is real. The justice system was weaponized against President Trump. pic.twitter.com/uvMKTHcA53
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) May 15, 2025
Although President Trump was convicted in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, he was never sentenced—and likely never will be. Meanwhile, a separate prosecution in Georgia led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, also a Democrat, was effectively derailed by allegations of nepotism and missteps that stalled the case indefinitely.
At the federal level, Special Counsel Jack Smith—appointed by former U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland—was pursuing two cases against Trump: one involving classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, and another related to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Throughout the legal battles, Trump maintained that the charges against him were part of a coordinated effort by an organized resistance, while Democrats accused him of deliberately undermining public trust in the justice system.
