Jack Smith to defend Trump investigations in first public testimony before House

WASHINGTON (TNND) — Former special counsel Jack Smith will publicly testify for the first time on Thursday to the House Judiciary Committee about his two criminal investigations of President Donald Trump.

During a closed-door session in December, Smith defended his probes to Congress and said his team developed “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

The case was dropped by Smith after Trump won reelection in 2024.

Smith also reportedly said there was “powerful evidence” the president kept highly classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, after leaving office in 2021.

“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity,” Smith will say, according to a copy of his opening statement obtained by The Associated Press. “If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether that president was a Republican or a Democrat.”

“No one should be above the law in our country, and the law required that he be held to account. So that is what I did,” Smith added.

The hearing will be led by Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who told reporters on Wednesday that he regards Smith’s investigations as the “culmination of that whole effort to stop President Trump from getting to the White House.”

Republicans have argued for years that the investigations into the president were part of an effort to harm him, although the Biden administration, which appointed Smith, rejected the idea. Former Attorney General Merrick Garland said when he named Smith that the special counsel was going to use “independent prosecutorial judgment” to decide whether to press charges.

Just before the New Year, the House Judiciary Committee released a 255-page transcript, as well as the 8-hour and 20-minute video, of its closed-door deposition with Smith.

“The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for nine of those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions, as alleged in the 10 indictments returned by grand juries in two different districts,” the former special counsel said.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and called Smith a “thug,” a “failed prosecutor,” and a “bad man.”