The opaqueness of Smith’s lawfare is striking, even years later. Smith’s work with Axon is no exception.
When Smith’s office asked for its pricing to aid in its video and audio conversion, Axon replied, “[w]e do not publish the cost of licenses/software,” the document shows. And the Department of Justice still withholds every price as Axon’s confidential information, so taxpayers cannot see what they paid.
Smith’s partisan investigation of Trump “likely” cost taxpayers more than $50 million, Fox News estimated, based on DOJ reports.
At the time of his office’s request to Axon, Smith was clearly motivated to move fast. His office had indicted Trump for retention of classified documents days earlier on June 8, and it was heading towards its next indictment.
On July 12, weeks after that initial request to Axon, Smith’s office’s Records Officer, the official responsible for its records, told Axon to ship overnight, writing, “[w]e are in desperate need of this software.”
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