Special counsel Jack Smith testified in a fiery, hours-long House Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday, where he faced questions about whether or not the investigations into President Donald Trump were politically motivated.
Smith was the top prosecutor in the indictments of President Donald Trump over his alleged role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and a classified documents case. He was appointed to preside over the two investigations in November 2022 by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland during the Biden administration. Republicans questioned Smith on his investigation processes, while Democrats largely praised the work done by the prosecutor.
“Our investigation revealed that Donald Trump is the person who caused Jan 6, that it was foreseeable to him, and that he sought to exploit the violence,” Smith said in response to questions from Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA).
“We followed the facts and we followed the law. Where that led us was to an indictment of an unprecedented criminal scheme to block the peaceful transition of power,” he added.
Johnson asked if the charges could be resurrected after Trump leaves office, however, Smith said “they were dismissed without prejudice” and said he cannot speak on whether the charges could be brought back.
Republicans took aim at the reported use of phone records of lawmakers, like Kevin McCarthy, in the investigation. For example, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said that his phone records were “indeed targeted” because of his communications with Rep. Scott Perry, which Smith said happened before he took over the investigation from his understanding. Roy asked if there were any limits to Smith’s investigation, saying it unfairly targeted conservatives and people who backed the president.
“To what end, would conversations between the Speaker of the U.S. House, second in line to be the president, and the president, on what basis would it be any of your business other than you believe there was a conspiracy without conspiracy as a basic premise?” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) said to Smith.
“You, like the president’s men for Richard Nixon, went after your political enemies. Maybe they’re not your political enemies, but they sure as hell were Joe Biden’s political enemies, weren’t they? They were Harris’ political enemies. They were the enemies of the president and you were their arm, weren’t you?” he added.
During Thursday’s hearing, while being questioned by Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT), Smith claimed he believes that the Justice Department will try to indict him in retaliation. Smith later said that the president wanted to “prey on party loyalty.”
“Our investigation involved interviewing and subpoenaing records of Republicans because that’s who Donald Trump sought to prey on to stay in office,” Smith said.
When The Daily Wire reached out to the White House for comment on the hearing, they referred to a Truth Social post from the president during the hearing.
“Deranged Jack Smith is being DECIMATED before Congress. It was over when they discussed his past failures and unfair prosecutions. He destroyed many lives under the guise of legitimacy. Jack Smith is a deranged animal, who shouldn’t be allowed to practice Law,” Trump wrote.
“If he were a Republican, his license would be taken away from him, and far worse! Hopefully the Attorney General is looking at what he’s done, including some of the crooked and corrupt witnesses that he was attempting to use in his case against me. The whole thing was a Democrat SCAM — A big price should be paid by them for what they have put our Country through!” he continued.
Other lines of questioning from Republicans also commented on perceived political bias in the investigations.
“You [were] unconstitutionally appointed. You breached the 60-day rule releasing this very partisan attack against the president right before the election. You tampered with evidence in the Mar-a-Lago case that you admitted to in court filings. You subpoenaed members of Congress and their phone records in violation of the Constitution, of current statute, you didn’t even let the court know these were members of Congress. How are we to assume otherwise this wasn’t political? Because it absolutely was,” Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC) said at one point.
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) fired back against the use of claims from Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon, calling her “completely lawless.”
In addition, Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) slammed the witness testimony of former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson, saying, “That’s the degree the Left and Democrats were willing to go to get President Trump. Putting on the witness stand somebody everybody knows is making it up.” Smith said Hutchinson’s claims were “secondhand” accounts.
Smith spoke with lawmakers last month in a closed-door deposition. At the end of the hearing, Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) suggested calling Smith back regarding “Volume Two” of his report, saying that the order from Judge Cannon may be lifted, allowing him to answer questions regarding that case.
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