Former Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ) says the same prosecutor who later indicted Donald Trump spent years weaponizing the legal process to destroy him politically — and he’s now calling for sweeping reforms to strip prosecutors of their near-total legal immunity.
Renzi, who represented Arizona’s First Congressional District from 2003 to 2009, laid out his case during an interview with Breitbart News Washington bureau chief Matthew Boyle. He said his prosecution, led by former Justice Department official Jack Smith, began after he kept winning a district he described as “almost 60% Democrat” while performing strongly on the Navajo Nation.
“What’s proven about Jack Smith is that he uses the process,” Renzi said. “He’ll fabricate charges. He’ll invent the law, and then he uses the process to destroy you politically.”
Renzi alleged investigators wiretapped his attorney 41 times, withheld evidence that would have helped his defense, and tampered with a witness. “Instead, they engaged in witness tampering, where they used a secret DOJ slush fund to enhance and offer money to this witness in exchange for him to change his testimony,” he said. He also claimed an FBI agent was “caught destroying exculpatory evidence,” which led his legal team to file a 190-page inspector general complaint.
He drew a direct line between his own case and Smith’s later prosecutions of Trump. “The way he rushed his indictments against the president — all politically timed. That’s what he did in my case,” Renzi said.
A Mining Dispute and 49 Felony Counts
Renzi said the case stemmed from his opposition to an international mining company seeking to mine copper near the San Carlos Apache Reservation. He said he was “backing and protecting the San Carlos,” and that Democrat lobbyists working for the company cooperated with Smith to “invent charges” that he strong-armed the company as a member of Congress.
Prosecutors repeatedly dangled plea deals — first four years in prison, then three, then “10 months in prison and one felony charge” — and Renzi turned them all down.
“I ended up fasting and praying,” Renzi said. “I had nine boys and five girls at the time, so I had a bunch of kids. And I said no to Jack Smith’s deal, and they took me to trial.” He was ultimately indicted on 49 felony counts and fought the case for seven and a half years at a cost of millions of dollars.
Renzi was convicted in 2013, served prison time, and received a presidential pardon from Trump on January 20, 2021.
Indicted at His Father’s Funeral
One of the most striking details Renzi shared involved learning of his indictment while delivering his father’s eulogy at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Annandale, Virginia. His father had served in the Army as a two-star general for 33 years.
“Then he leaks to the reporters and the media, who are then swarming in the parking lot outside the Catholic Church. The family cars were trying to leave with my father’s casket. Then he leaks word that I’m under indictment for 20 felonies in Arizona.”
Renzi called it a “bludgeoned axe tactic” meant to pressure defendants into pleading guilty before trial. He said he kept refusing — and prosecutors kept piling on charges, reindicting him on 30 felonies after one refusal and later offering, and seeing rejected, a deal for 10 months and a single felony.
He also accused Smith’s team of trying to make him “defenseless” by wiretapping his attorneys and indicting one of them, who Renzi said was later found innocent. Renzi said he personally was debanked twice, including once at Christmas while trying to buy presents for his 12 children, and that his company was also debanked — making it harder, he said, to fund his legal defense.
Congressional Testimony Disputes
Renzi raised questions about Smith’s answers during congressional questioning by Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Jim Jordan. He said Smith denied ever meeting former CIA Director John Brennan or coordinating with him, but that members of Smith’s special counsel team had in fact met with Brennan. Renzi also said Smith denied collecting additional data on members of Congress, which Renzi says was later contradicted by evidence that data was collected for the National Archives — prompting Jordan to make a criminal referral to the Justice Department over lying to Congress.
His Fix: End Sovereign Immunity for Prosecutors
Asked what needs to change, Renzi didn’t hesitate. “It’s sovereign immunity, Matt,” he said.
“We’ve got to stop this idea that the lords of the palace, that these prosecutors go out in Arizona, Nevada, Virginia, all over the country, whether Republicans or Democrats, and they have complete sovereign immunity, as if they’re kings and lords of their own palace. It’s got to be changed.”
Renzi proposed a “citizens’ accountability council” made up of lawyers, judges and independents from both parties to investigate misconduct allegations, arguing Congress has proven unable to police prosecutors itself. “We’ve got to have teams of American patriots, lawyers, judges, good from both parties, independents, who serve on a citizens accountability council and delve deeply into individual cases of misconduct,” he said.
He also took aim at the Justice Department’s own inspector general office, questioning why it’s housed inside the department it’s supposed to oversee. “How about the office of Inspector General being located in Main Justice on Ninth Street, Matt? Who would ever think that you would put the fox guarding the henhouse?”
Boyle pressed Renzi on the fact that prosecutorial abuse has occurred under both parties and asked what would stop politically motivated investigations if Democrats retake Congress in the midterms. Renzi pointed to a past effort, following the prosecution of the late Sen. Ted Stevens, to require independent review when prosecutors target public officials.
“We tried to put together a sunlight law where, if you’re going after a public figure, Republican or Democrat, the evidence has got to be reviewed by a taint team. It’s got to be reviewed by an independent third party.”
“We cannot have a government that goes after leadership and acts as a third world nation carrying out retribution and revenge on political leaders in the country,” Renzi said, adding that such protections are necessary so “young, good, smart men and women” keep running for office rather than being scared off. “It cannot be just indicting, a grand jury like a ham sandwich and then running it to the press.”
Renzi cited the federal judge who ruled Smith’s special counsel appointment unconstitutional in the classified documents case against Trump as an example of the judicial independence he believes the system needs more of, calling it “great, great courage.”
Renzi’s book, Apache Leap: Lawfare, details his years-long fight against the prosecution.
