• Smith declared Trump engaged in criminal scheme to overturn 2020 election and illegally retained classified documents
• Republican Chairman Jim Jordan attacked investigations as weaponization while ranking Democrat Jamie Raskin defended prosecutions
• First public testimony comes month after eight-hour closed-door deposition where Smith rejected political motivation claims

WASHINGTON (TDR) — Former special counsel Jack Smith delivered a defiant defense of his criminal prosecutions against President Donald Trump Thursday morning, telling the House Judiciary Committee in blistering opening remarks that Trump willfully broke the laws he took an oath to uphold.

“President Trump was charged because the evidence established that he willfully broke the law, the very laws he took an oath to uphold,” Smith declared in his first public testimony about the investigations.

“Grand juries in two separate districts reached this conclusion based on his actions, as alleged in the indictments they returned,” he continued.

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Smith’s appearance before the Republican-led committee marked a highly anticipated confrontation between the former special counsel and Trump allies who have long characterized the investigations as politically motivated witch hunts.

Criminal Scheme To Overturn Election

Smith provided detailed allegations against Trump regarding the 2020 election and classified documents cases during his opening statement.

“Rather than accept his defeat in the 2020 election, President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power,” Smith stated.

“After leaving office in January of ’21, President Trump illegally kept classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago social club, and repeatedly tried to obstruct justice to conceal his continued retention of those documents,” he added.

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Smith emphasized the sensitive nature of the materials Trump allegedly mishandled.

“Highly sensitive national security information was held in a ballroom and a bathroom,” Smith told lawmakers.

The former special counsel declared he would make the same prosecutorial decisions today regardless of political affiliation.

“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity. 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 Democrat or a Republican,” Smith said.

“No one, no one should be above the law in this country and the law required that he be held to account, so that is what I did,” he continued. “To have done otherwise, on the facts of these cases, would have been to shirk my duties as a prosecutor and as a public servant, of which I had no intention of doing.”

Warning About Erosion Of Rule Of Law

Smith used his testimony to warn Americans about taking the rule of law for granted, drawing on nearly 30 years of public service experience.

“After nearly 30 years of public service, including in international settings, I have seen how the rule of law can erode,” Smith said. “My fear is that we have seen the rule of law function in our country for so long that many of us have come to take it for granted.”

“The rule of law is not self-executing. It depends on our collective commitment to apply it. It requires dedicated service on behalf of others, especially when that service is difficult and comes with costs,” he continued.

“Our willingness to pay those costs is what tests and defines our commitment to the rule of law and to this wonderful country,” Smith concluded.

The former special counsel condemned what he characterized as retribution against career prosecutors and federal agents who worked on the Trump investigations.

“President Trump has sought to seek revenge against career prosecutors, FBI agents, and support staff simply for having worked on these cases. To vilify and seek retribution against these people is wrong,” Smith stated.

“Those dedicated public servants are the best of us, and it has been a privilege to serve with them,” he added.

Jordan Attacks Investigations As Weaponization

Republican Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio used his opening statement to characterize Smith’s work as the culmination of weaponized government targeting Trump.

“Jack Smith is really the culmination of this weaponization of the Biden-Garland Justice Department against President Trump,” Jordan told reporters Wednesday.

During the hearing, Jordan framed the investigations as part of broader efforts to prevent Trump from reaching the White House.

“In spite of the left and the weaponization efforts of Jim Comey, Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis and Jack Smith, we the people saw through it all, and we elected President Trump twice,” Jordan declared.

Republicans are expected to press Smith about subpoenaing phone records from Republican lawmakers as part of his investigation into the January 6 Capitol riot and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

“Thank goodness the American people saw through it,” Jordan said, referring to Trump’s 2024 electoral victory.

The GOP chairman told reporters the public hearing would expose what he characterized as lawfare against Trump.

“Tomorrow he’ll be there in a public setting so the country can see that this was no different than all the other lawfare weaponization of government going after President Trump,” Jordan said Wednesday.

Raskin Praises Smith For Following Facts

Ranking Democrat Jamie Raskin of Maryland praised Smith for pursuing facts and following applicable laws and regulations.

“Special Counsel Smith, you pursued the facts. You followed every applicable law, ethics rule and DOJ regulation. Your decisions were reviewed by the public Integrity section. You acted based solely on the facts. The opposite of Donald Trump, who now is purporting to take over,” Raskin said.

Raskin emphasized that Smith proved Trump engaged in criminal activity.

“Special Counsel Smith proved that Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power,” Raskin stated.

The Maryland Democrat had previously criticized Republicans for initially refusing to hold a public hearing.

“Even with many hours of private testimony, Republicans could not lay a glove on Jack Smith, his evidence, or his case. That will not change now that they have finally heeded our call to have him come testify publicly,” Raskin said in a statement before the hearing.

December Closed-Door Testimony

Smith spent more than eight hours in closed-door testimony before the committee in December, vigorously defending his investigations.

The Judiciary Committee released a 255-page transcript and more than eight hours of video from that deposition on December 31. Smith told lawmakers during that session he could prove beyond reasonable doubt that Trump engaged in a criminal scheme.

“I would never take orders from a political leader to hamper another person in an election. That’s not who I am. And I think people who know me and my experience over 30 years would find that laughable,” Smith said in December, according to the transcript.

Smith asserted he made decisions without regard to politics during his investigation.

“I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election,” Smith stated.

The former special counsel said Trump was the most culpable in the election interference case and that he repeatedly tried to obstruct justice in the classified documents case.

Cases Dropped After Trump Reelection

Smith brought criminal charges against Trump in 2023 regarding both the 2020 election interference and classified documents retention. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in both cases.

Neither case went to trial. The classified documents case ended when U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, declared Smith’s appointment unlawful.

Smith dropped the 2020 election and January 6 case after Trump’s reelection in November 2024, citing Justice Department policy barring prosecution of sitting presidents.

The indictment in the election case included six unnamed co-conspirators. Based on details and Smith’s testimony, they appeared to be Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro, Boris Epshteyn and Jeffrey Clark, who served as a high-ranking Justice Department official during Trump’s first term.

Smith Appointment And Background

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith as special counsel in November 2022 to oversee investigations after Trump announced his presidential candidacy. Smith, a longtime public corruption prosecutor, brought charges the following year.

Smith has requested that lawmakers not ask about legally protected grand jury information or details from the second volume of his final special counsel report, which pertains to the classified documents case. Judge Cannon has sealed that report through February.

The former special counsel explained during testimony why he analyzed phone records of more than half a dozen Republican lawmakers as part of his investigation.

“The conspiracy that we were investigating, it was relevant to get toll records to understand the scope of that conspiracy, who they were seeking to coerce, who they were seeking to influence, who was seeking to help them,” Smith said.

He emphasized that obtaining such records represents common practice in complex investigations, noting the records contained only data about calls themselves, not content.

Ongoing Ethics Investigation

Smith faces investigation by the Office of Special Counsel, an agency unrelated to his former position. His lawyers characterized the ethics probe as imaginary and unfounded.

Republican lawmakers have called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to refer Smith to the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, alleging his efforts to obtain congressional phone records constituted nothing more than a fishing expedition targeting Trump.

“Jack Smith was a rogue Special Counsel who, based on his conduct in the Arctic Frost matter, would do anything to stop President Trump — including taking concerted steps to spy on duly elected members of Congress,” lawmakers wrote in an October letter.

Smith has rebutted claims his office acted improperly in seeking records, saying false and misleading narratives have circulated about his team’s work.

Will Smith’s public defense of his prosecutions influence public perception of Trump’s conduct, or will partisan divisions ensure Americans remain split along party lines?

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