Former special counsel Jack Smith was photographed Saturday at the Power to the People Fest at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, wearing a black Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band shirt from the “Land of Hope and Dreams” American tour.
The shirt, which is sold on Springsteen’s website, featured the words “No Kings.” Attendees posted images and videos of Smith in the crowd, including selfies with him and footage of him holding a beer and speaking with people nearby.
One eyewitness told The Daily Beast that Smith was taking selfies with “fans” throughout the event.
The festival, which was held on Saturday, October 3, who has long identified with left-wing and labor politics. The lineup included Springsteen, the Foo Fighters, and Joan Baez, artists who have repeatedly criticized President Donald Trump and Republican policies.
Organizers described the event as a demonstration of the power people have, through music and action, to shape the country on and beyond Election Day, and said a portion of ticket proceeds would go to VoteRiders, a group focused on voter-ID assistance. Springsteen performed “Streets of Minneapolis,” written after fatal encounters involving federal immigration agents, and criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from the stage.
In closing remarks, Morello told the crowd he hoped they had been “energized, radicalized, revolutionized, democratized.”
Foo Fighters singer Dave Grohl dedicated “My Hero” to “my new friend Jack” while Smith was in the audience and referenced Senator Eric Schmitt’s questioning of Smith at a Senate hearing earlier that week. The appearance was Smith’s first public sighting since that hearing.
POLL: Should Barack And Michelle Obama Stay Out Of Politics?
“No Kings” is the name of a series of highly-organized protests opposing the policies and use of executive power in Trump’s second term. Organizers held large demonstrations on June 14, 2025, October 18, 2025, and March 28, 2026, with organizers claiming participation numbers in the millions.
Despite his hero’s welcome at the far-left festival, Smith has claimed that his controversial investigations into President Donald Trump and his allies as being independent of politics. In his final report he wrote that neither he nor his prosecutors would have acted for partisan purposes, and that the office’s “north star” was to follow the facts and the law.
At an October 2025 event he called claims that politics shaped the cases “ludicrous.” At the September 29, 2026, Senate Judiciary hearing he said he had no partisan loyalty and would have brought the same charges against a Democrat on the same facts.
RELATED: GOP Senator Sues Jack Smith For Accessing Her Phone Records
Continue reading...
[ H/T Trending Politics ]
