Former special counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday came out swinging against the Trump administration's firing of his former staff, saying that they had served honorably and that the move signaled that public servants would not be protected.

Smith brought charges against President Donald Trump in 2024 in two separate cases. One addressed his alleged mishandling of classified materials while the other related to Jan. 6 and Trump's efforts to challenge the 2020 election results. He appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.

"These are people who stood sentry for us, experts in national security, experts in corruption investigations, who were simply fired because they worked on the wrong case," he told lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee. "That has never happened in my career. I have never seen anything remotely like it in any Republican or Democratic administration."

"I think the message it sends is that public servants will not be protected, and if we cannot protect public servants who enforce the rule of law without fear or favor, the Justice Department cannot work, and it cannot have credibility," he added. "That is why we have seen the erosion of the credibility of the department in courts across this country."

The Trump administration has moved to fire FBI agents who worked on the Trump case, prompting litigation against the agency.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent for Just the News. Follow him on X.