Donald Trump inadvertently admitted to interfering in the 2020 election, giving Jack Smith the opening he needed in the federal election interference case the special agent had tirelessly tried to maintain against the former president.

During an interview with Fox News that aired Sunday, the GOP candidate told host Mark Levin in the middle of his rant that he had “every right” to overturn the 2020 election. His comments came just days after special counsel Jack Smith secured an indictment against Trump, CNBC reported.

When complaining about the Justice Department’s indictment against him, Trump stumbled into an admission that Smith certainly did not expect: “Who heard that you’re being indicted for rigging a presidential election when you have every right to do so? You get indicted and your poll numbers go up?” he asked. “When people get indicted, your poll numbers go down. But that was such nonsense.”

Now the former president’s public statements can be used against him, since all of his statements are admissible in criminal proceedings.

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Cal) wrote on X: “Dear @realDonaldTrump: Are you really that stupid? You think President Biden has the right to interfere in the upcoming election? Do you want Vice President Harris to do what you wanted former Vice President Mike Pence to do? Are you really that stupid?”

Conservative lawyer and Trump critic George Conway sharply criticized the former president for his remarks on Fox. He said Trump’s comments were “an admission that he tried to influence the election and that he was not trying to enforce federal law. And that is a crime.”