Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart welcomed former special counsel Jack Smith and former FBI acting director Brian Driscoll to Wednesday’s episode of The Weekly Show podcast. After lamenting all things Trump, DOJ, and FBI, Stewart would tell his producers, “Those guys have balls.”
Towards the end of their lengthy conversation, Stewart lamented the backlash to the idea that the DOJ is supposed to be independent from the president, “You know this idea of a unitary executive and a president as much more forceful as a king, you know, until that changes it’s very difficult to rebalance this because now we are going to be much more so, and DOJ being, you know, under that, the auspices. It’s going to be much more difficult to do it until we rebalance the branches again and it’s, right now, it’s—it feels like we’re in an outsized pre-Watergate mindset.”
Jon Stewart laments to Jack Smith “you know this idea of a unitary executive and a president as much more forceful as a king, you know, until that changes it’s very difficult to rebalance this because now we are going to be much more so and DOJ being you know under that the… pic.twitter.com/BQuuHkQluT
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 10, 2026
Smith responded by comparing people like the three of them to abolitionists and other historical activists:
Yeah, I mean, I would say one thing about that is that when you think about, like, how change comes about, like, you look at the times in our history, right, where something really bad happened and we got better, whether it’s abolishing slavery, woman suffrage, the Civil Rights Movement, right? They—there were moments when no one knew if what they were going to do was going to make a difference, and they did it anyways, right? You don’t think about the likelihood of success. You just think ‘I’m going to be on the right side of history. I’m going to behave in a way that’s going to make my kids proud, my parents proud,’ and you just do that and you don’t worry about consequences.
Smith would ramble on for some time before Stewart wrapped things up:
Well, I can’t think of three bigger heroes than the three of us. All right, just you two, damn it! Jack Smith, former special counsel. Brian Driscoll, former FBI agent, who in 2025, was the acting director of the FBI. Thank you so much for spending the time and pointing out the great stories of the integrity of the people in the rank and file of law enforcement and of our Department of Justice and all those things. We have to keep highlighting the good work by the good people and those that continue to stand up against corruption in all of its forms, and so I appreciate you both being here for that.
After Smith and Driscoll signed off, Stewart reacted to the whole interview by telling his producers, “Those guys have balls. You know what, can I say something? When I’m hanging out with guys like that I’m literally like, ‘So you guys want to do shots? What do you want to do? Want to go to a Giants game? What do you want to do?’”
Stewart and Smith want to portray the current Trump administration’s approach to the DOJ as monarchical, but Smith became the poster child for overzealous prosecutors even before he began trying to prosecute Trump himself. Ironically, Stewart actually talked about the Bob McDonnell case earlier in the episode but still lamented Smith’s 8-0 defeat.
Here is a transcript for the July 8 show:
Comedy Central The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart
7/8/2026
JON STEWART: And it does feel like we’re moving—you know this idea of a unitary executive and a president as much more forceful as a king, you know, until that changes it’s very difficult to rebalance this because now we are going to be much more so, and DOJ being, you know, under that, the auspices. It’s going to be much more difficult to do it until we rebalance the branches again and it’s, right now, it’s—it feels like we’re in an outsized pre-Watergate mindset.
JACK SMITH: Yeah, I mean, I would say one thing about that is that when you think about, like, how change comes about, like, you look at the times in our history, right, where something really bad happened and we got better, whether it’s abolishing slavery, woman suffrage, the Civil Rights Movement, right? They—there were moments when no one knew if what they were going to do was going to make a difference, and they did it anyways, right? You don’t think about the likelihood of success. You just think I’m going to be on the right side of history. I’m going to behave in a way that’s going to make my kids, proud my parents proud’—
STEWART: Right.
SMITH: —and you just do that and you don’t worry about consequences. I think, in terms of a mindset for our society, 99 percent of the time, I think most people know the right thing to do. They really do. The problem becomes when they factor in the consequences for doing the right thing because then people if the consequences are too high, they start rationalizing ways where they don’t quite have to do that—
STEWART: Sure.
SMITH: —and maybe, they can do something short of that.
As Brian said if we start taking a mindset of “It’s our country. We own the problems. If you want a solution you gotta be a part of it.”
I feel like that happens and if that becomes our national dialogue and integrity is a more central part of it some of the things you’re talking about, we can elect people who will not do those sort of things I mean I have a big concern I don’t want to have a situation where we’ve had these abuses and that becomes a new normal for any party, right?
STEWART: Right.
SMITH: —and we’ve seen that other times.
STEWART: And the key remembers it doesn’t have to. That it is—
SMITH: Correct.
STEWART: —like you say—
SMITH: Correct.
STEWART: —action against this corruption is necessary and the courage to take action against that corruption is all of our responsibilities.
SMITH: Absolutely
STEWART: Well, I can’t think of three bigger heroes than the three of us. All right, just you two, damn it! Jack Smith, former special counsel. Brian Driscoll, former FBI agent, who in 2025, was the acting director of the FBI.
Thank you so much for spending the time and pointing out the great stories of the integrity of the people in the rank and file of law enforcement and of our Department of Justice and all those things.
We have to keep highlighting the good work by the good people and those that continue to stand up against corruption in all of its forms, and so I appreciate you both being here for that.
SMITH: Thanks for having us, Jon. Really appreciate it.
STEWART: Very cool.
BRIAN DRISCOLL: Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.
STEWART: Alright, bye guys.
Those guys have balls. You know what, can I say something? When I’m hanging out with guys like that I’m literally like, “So you guys want to do shots? What do you want to do? Want to go to a Giants game? What do you want to do?”