Jack Smith Deposition: FBI Said No Probable Cause

As Jack Smith sits for a closed door deposition, Julie Kelly lays out how the FBI itself pushed back on the Mar-a-Lago raid, warning there was no probable cause long before DOJ escalated the case.

WATCH THE CLIP BELOW:

This clip aired on WarRoom’s morning show on December 17, 2025. Transcript begins below (lightly edited for clarity; may contain minor errors).

STEVE BANNON (HOST): Julie Kelly is with us by phone. Julie, you’ve waited a long time, girl. You got Jack Smith getting deposed today under oath. What do you got for us?

JULIE KELLY (GUEST): So Jack Smith, former special counsel, is testifying before the House Judiciary Committee behind closed doors. I have pushed for public testimony by Jack Smith because I think the American people, after being forced to spend at least $50 million on that criminal pursuit of the president in two different cases, are entitled to see this scumbag front and center.

The good news is that Senator Johnson has said this is a precursor for continued investigation and also a public hearing with Jack Smith scheduled, hopefully, for early next year.

STEVE BANNON (HOST): What about the probable cause yesterday? The Washington field office, you’ve told us so many times they hated President Trump. They told the FBI, and it makes a judge say there was not probable cause. How big a deal is that going to be in this deposition today?

JULIE KELLY (GUEST): This was a well timed disclosure by the Senate and House Judiciary Committees. It confirmed a Washington Post 2020 article I’ve reported on many times.

There was tension between the Washington FBI field office, led by Stephen D’Antuono, who was promoted after pulling off the Whitmer fednapping stunt in Detroit. He oversaw the January 6 investigation and the pipe bomb investigation.

It appears he and several agents pushed back and did not believe there was probable cause.

Then oversaw the extensive January 6th investigation as well as the pipeline investigation. But it appears he was the one, he and several of his agents out of the Washington field office, pushing back on Main Justice, especially Jay Bratt, George Toscas, people we’ve talked about who are no longer with the department, in pursuing immediately this raid of Mar a Lago.

So this tension over the course of two months was confirmed by these emails released yesterday. And then, of course, the big bombshell is that the FBI did not believe that there was probable cause, at least the Washington field office did not believe there was probable cause.

We know the president and his team of lawyers had been fully cooperating with Joe Biden’s eventual DOJ for over a year and a half, continuing to produce documents. Fifteen boxes they sent voluntarily.

On June 3rd, 2022, after cooperating with the archives, after collaborating with DOJ, the president let Jay Bratt and three FBI agents voluntarily enter Mar a Lago. This is very important to me and I want to reiterate this.

June 3rd, 2022, after cooperating with the archives, after collaborating with DOJ, he let that degenerate midget, I call him Jay Bratt, and three FBI agents walk around. They were looking for more classified documents. It was a recon mission.

And three days later, Jay Bratt started to push for the armed raid of Mar a Lago for more alleged government papers the president wasn’t supposed to have.

STEVE BANNON (HOST): Real quickly, does Jack Smith take the Fifth today?

JULIE KELLY (GUEST): It appears from reporting by Politico that he is going to do whatever he can to stonewall and not answer the committee questions, just like his buddy and henchman Tom Windom did back in September. Windom is now the subject of a criminal referral for obstruction that is sitting at the DOJ right now.

STEVE BANNON (HOST): Just saying, are we making progress on the impeachment of Boasberg, ma’am? Before we go, we’ve got about a minute.

JULIE KELLY (GUEST): Not that I’m aware of, no.

STEVE BANNON (HOST): Good. Lord in heaven. Good. Give me 30 seconds. What do you want the president to say to the nation tonight?

JULIE KELLY (GUEST): That they are focused on the priorities they were elected for. Holding accountable the people who brought lawfare against the president, his team, people like you, Steve, and hundreds of his supporters.

People are justifiably frustrated with the slow pace. We need to see more movement immediately after the first of the year, hopefully starting with someone like Jack Smith.

STEVE BANNON (HOST): Julie, where do people go for your Substack or your content?

JULIE KELLY (GUEST): Declassified with Julie Kelly on Substack and on X. Julie underscore Kelly two. I’ll be sharing a lot today.

STEVE BANNON (HOST): Love you, ma’am. Great job. A hammer.