GOP podcaster ridiculed on CNN panel as his defense of Trump sons collapses

"I resigned as special counsel. I know I need to get a lawyer because the president has said he wants to jail me for doing my job," Jack Smith explained. "And so I retain lawyers, as soon as that becomes public, the president and the Justice Department target that law firm."

Online, viewers reacted to Smith's account of how his fears about the Trump administration came true. Veteran political scientist Norman Ornstein responded by describing the administration as "American Gestapo" in a post on X.

"The retribution is simply staggering," wrote civil rights lawyer Leslie Proll.

"We are in such high cotton here," reacted columnist Sophia A. Nelson. "And nobody in power who can stop him or his minions gives a d—."

"What a refreshing example of an honest, moral and non political American hero," architect and political activist Mike Kihn wrote about Jack Smith. "He will not give in to Trump's attempt to intimidate because, like a legal first responder, he will run to danger, personal or otherwise, not away from it."

"Now listen to the women who testified under oath that Trump r— them," posted journalist Robert Young Pelton. "Or listen to the testimony of those who spoke out from inside the Trump administration, like Miles Taylor."

CNN senior business reporter David Goldman highlighted red flags in specific sectors: nursing jobs added only 22,000 over the past year, compared to 38,000 the previous year, while hospitality hiring experienced significant decline despite multiple cities hosting World Cup games.

"That is something that we need to watch," Goldman said.

He noted economists expect future revisions to clarify the numbers.

"I think, and there are a number of economists who are smarter than me who think, that this might change as we get those revisions in the future months, because this is kind of defying logic and defining what we can see with our own eyes," Goldman said.

Watch the video below.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

"There is a through line when you combine the idea that he is pushing the SAVE Act and then, on a holiday weekend, calls in hundreds of FBI analysts," Miller said. "When law enforcement comes in and starts doing things like this...it creates this chilling effect towards election workers and others."

He explained that Trump called in "staff operations specialists and investigative operations specialists to the Atlanta field office," and "this is the kind of people where it looks like you would be dumping a ton of paperwork, maybe ballots on them."

The instructions to these hundreds of FBI analysts could even be to go through the ballots and investigate them "one at a time," Miller added. However, he cautioned that, "if they're doing a recount, that kind of usurps the election authorities of the state."

Whether or not they find anything, Miller warned, "You're creating this atmosphere that there's something wrong there, and I can't see these two things being unconnected," again referring to the Save America Act and noting that this "could have been done last week."