Evening Wire: Jack Smith Is Grilled on Capital Hill & Fraud Crackdown Targets Billionaires | 9.29.26

John Bickley (0:00)

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John Bickley (1:52)

The fraud crackdown continues as several billionaire scammers are named. Marco Rubio says a foreign actor was involved in the UK terror plot and the Senate moves to overhaul college sports. I'm Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Tuesday, September 29th. This is Evening Wire.

John Bickley (2:10)

Senator Joni Ernst released a report this week spotlighting billions of dollars in fraud in Medicare and Medicaid. Daily Wire contributor Tim Pearce has more.

John Bickley (2:19)

Ernst report is titled The New Robber Barons and is based off of prior reporting from Daily Wire's own Luke Rosiak and it details how eight scammers have billed the federal government roughly $1 billion each. The fraudsters even include an illegal immigrant who submitted $1.3 billion in fraudulent claims and is still at large. Others include a Kansas man who has paid out half a billion dollars before he was convicted in May, and a biotech executive at the center of a conspiracy that cost taxpayers $614 million before it was shut down. Medicare and Medicaid spending equals well over $1.6 trillion a year. With so much cash flowing through those programs and with just 450 investigators responsible for catching fraud, experts estimate that at least $100 billion a year is stolen from taxpayers, if not more.

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith appeared on Capitol Hill today to defend his investigations into President Trump against skeptical lawmakers. Reporter Drew Birkmire has the story.

SPEAKER_5 (3:16)

Smith testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning in a hearing pointedly titled Oversight of Jack Smith's Abuse of Authority and Targeting of Republicans and Related Matters. Smith had investigated Trump for over two years beginning in 2022, and he accused the president of crimes related to the 2020 election and keeping classified documents in Mar-a-Lago. In the hearing room, Smith defended his actions. Listen to that now.

Jack Smith (3:40)

I stand by my decisions as special counsel, including my decision to bring charges against President Trump. I made those decisions without regard to President Trump's political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election.

SPEAKER_5 (4:00)

Democrats stood by Smith and accused Republicans of partisan attacks against a public servant. On the other hand, Republican senators said Smith betrayed his partisan agenda by targeting the finances and phone records of GOP lawmakers, not always with judicial approval. Here's that now.

SPEAKER_7 (4:16)

When you went to Judge Boesberg, you didn't even tell him you were seeking the phone records of members of Congress, did you? Because you knew he wouldn't agree.