Watch: CNN Following Around Jack Smith Like Fangirls After News of Possible Third Trump Indictment
With all of the hubbub around Washington, D.C., on Tuesday afternoon, CNN wanted America to be assured that Special Counsel Jack Smith — who reportedly is on the verge of charging former President Donald Trump with crimes related to the events of Jan. 6, 2021 — is Eating Fresh™.
Earlier in the day, the former president — and current Republican frontrunner — announced on social media that he had received a letter from the special counsel calling him a target in the Jan. 6 investigation. A target letter is typically a prelude to an indictment — and, indeed, Smith has already gotten a grand jury indictment against Trump on charges related to improperly retaining classified information after leaving office.
“Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment,” Trump wrote in a statement.
BREAKING
They know they can’t stop him legally.
President Trump’s statement on the letter he received Sunday from Jack Smith.
The Police State has arrived to America. pic.twitter.com/2AtXPSKyym
— Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) July 18, 2023
This would be the second major indictment from a special counsel appointed by the attorney general for the political opposition just as the primary season winds up — two-and-a-half years after Jan. 6, but felicitously just as Trump ramps up his campaign to win the Republican nomination for a third time.
So, naturally, the big news on CNN was that Jack Smith was eating at Subway.
“Turns out even Jack Smith can’t resist a $5 footlong,” CNN host Dana Bash said, narrating as CNN’s reporters followed him around like fangirls who’ve just spotted Justin Bieber.
“That’s according to what we see right there. New and exclusive CNN video of the special counsel at Subway declining, though, to respond to reporters’ questions about today’s big news, a target letter sent to the former president of the United States.”
Earlier Bash claimed “They clearly wanted us to see him and that image to be very different from what we saw in the former president’s post , which is that he’s a deranged individual.” Evan Perez gushed “he stood in line like everybody else” (3/3) pic.twitter.com/WBUS0oBsAg
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 18, 2023
Here was the breaking news as it happened, according to CNN’s Evan Perez, who they sent to “track down the special counsel,” according to Bash, who said she wouldn’t “ask you all of the less important things about what he got and how he paid and all that, but what is important is the imagery here.”
Oh yeah, clearly. It’s not important that Jack Smith ordered something at Subway and how he paid. (But just out of curiosity — was it the tuna? Because nothing hits the spot like a Subway footlong tuna sub with extra jalapeño peppers. Also, Apple Pay? Or regular debit card?)
“I can count probably five or six sandwich shops between his office and that location that he was at earlier today,” Perez noted, before adding Smith — gasp! — “stood in line just like everybody else, and I couldn’t tell whether it was a footlong or is it a — or was it a six-inch sub, but look, I mean, we now are on watch for when this potential indictment is coming.”
This, as Newsbusters’ Alex Christy pointed out, was a theme throughout the hour on CNN, which is apparently missing Chris Licht a lot more than I ever would have imagined.
CNN or TMZ? Kaetlyn Polantz informs us that “[Jack Smith] was spotted today by CNN going to Subway for lunch, picking up a sandwich, leaving and not saying a word.” (1/2) pic.twitter.com/M9xP91R8C4
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 18, 2023
“Jack Smith is tight lipped. He was spotted today by CNN going to Subway for lunch, picking up a sandwich, leaving and not saying a word,” CNN’s Katelyn Polantz said. “So, no comment from the special counsel’s office on whether they plan to indict Donald Trump and when that is potentially going to happen for the second time for a federal case.”
But was it a footlong, Katelyn?! For the love of Pete, get the story here! This is Woodward and Bernstein on the heels of the Nixon White House, and they can’t tell Ben Bradlee whether or not H.R. Haldeman had a spicy Italian or a meatball marinara! And, not only that, they couldn’t even tell him 6-inch or 12-inch! You remember that scene from “All the President’s Men,” right? The way Jason Robards flipped his lid over Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford’s sloppy sandwich reporting practically sealed the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for him that year.
John King was also taken in by the Subway metaphor, for some reason.
John King marvels, “Jack Smith going to Subway today is a message to Donald Trump. … Jack Smith with no words and a simple $5 sub in his hand saying ‘I’m not going anywhere.'” Dana Bash adds “the imagery was intentional and spoke volume.” (2/2) pic.twitter.com/nDmd952R2c
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 18, 2023
“And just one last point, Jack Smith, remember when the classified documents target letter, when Trump announced that, there’s a lot of commentary, you know, ‘Is Jack Smith making a mistake here? Is he leaving this all to Donald Trump?’ And then they released the indictment, and we all said ‘Wow! Wow!’” King said.
“We read it. We saw the documentation. We saw the level of detail,” he continued. “Jack Smith going to Subway today is a message to Donald Trump. Donald Trump tries to intimidate people, he tries bullies people, he tries to scare you away. That was Jack Smith with no words and a simple $5 sub in his hand saying ‘I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.’”
Yes, he’s going somewhere, John King. He’s going to Subway. That’s what your network is dedicating its afternoon coverage to — and you’re surmising that his choice of sandwich joints is sending a message about what’s in a potential grand jury indictment.
Stop and pause for a second, and think to yourself whether you ever thought this is what you’d be doing on cable news. If you don’t start crying, you’re doing something wrong.
Not unpredictably, Twitter users weren’t particularly impressed with this use of reportorial resources, with conservative columnist David Marcus taking issue with Bash’s characterization of Smith’s decision to eat at Subway an attempt to paint a picture “very different from what we saw in the former president’s post, which is that he’s a deranged individual.” Marcus wondered if perhaps the network didn’t just stumble upon him and that they’d gotten the message that the choice of sub joints was an attempt to send a message.
CNN is the propaganda arm of the DOJ. Here’s “exclusive footage,” of normal guy Jack Smith getting a Subway sandwich. Nobody who eats at Subway could be evil…. https://t.co/PUYxbT91cF
— David Marcus (@BlueBoxDave) July 18, 2023
“CNN is the propaganda arm of the DOJ. Here’s ‘exclusive footage,’ of normal guy Jack Smith getting a Subway sandwich. Nobody who eats at Subway could be evil …” Marcus wrote.
He wasn’t the only one who noticed this “accident.”
CNN “accidentally” was there Ha!
— Steven VB 🦅🇺🇸🦅🇵🇫🇫🇷 (@vbislands) July 19, 2023
And, hey — it’s not like Subway’s ever been involved with anyone problematic, right?
Jussie Smollet vibes…
— Greg Anderson (@DreddBolt) July 18, 2023
Did Jarrod serve him the foot long,
— Gary Brower (@GaryBrower1) July 18, 2023
The former reference was to Jussie Smollett, whose late-night visit to Subway in Chicago was capped off by a fake assault back in 2019. The latter reference is to longtime Subway spokesman Jared Fogle, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison on child pornography charges in 2015.
Perhaps the most succinct — and representative — reaction was this one, by a user known as “Beachglass.”
CNN sucks .
— Beachglass (@beachglass420) July 18, 2023
It’s bad enough that CNN is going to dedicate hours of breathless coverage to speculation about what this indictment might include before it’s even issued. They’re also going to speculate over what a visit to Subway means as they act like it’s important.
But don’t worry: Dana Bash assures you they’re not going to ask the unimportant questions, like what he had or anything like that. Coming up tomorrow on CNN, Jack Smith’s visit to McDonald’s, which absolutely won’t tell you whether he super-sized it or not — because that would just be fatuous.
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