Jack Smith Testifies to Congress on Trump Crimes | Part 1

Special Counsel Smith stated his office had 'proof beyond a reasonable doubt' that former President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 election and willfully retained highly classified documents after leaving office. He emphasized that the decision to bring charges was his and based entirely on Trump's alleged actions.

Smith's direct statement: 'Yes, I believe we had proof beyond a reasonable doubt in both cases.' (13:27), 'Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election...' (09:50), 'Our investigation also developed powerful evidence that showed that President Trump willfully retained highly classified documents...' (10:06).

Smith's testimony was significantly limited by two main restrictions: Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6E (grand jury secrecy) and Judge Cannon's January 21st, 2025 order prohibiting disclosure of non-public information from Volume 2 of the special counsel's report.

'First, as the committee is aware... the Justice Department admonished Mr. Smith that he is not authorized to divulge that is prohibited by law or court including that which is subject to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6E.' (00:49), 'Second according to the Justice Department discussion of Volume 2 of the special counsel's reports... is specifically prohibited by Judge Cannon's Cannon's January 21st, 2025 order.' (01:50). 'This restriction significantly limits Mr. Smith's ability to discuss the classified documents case.' (02:51).

Smith asserted that his investigations and prosecution decisions were made without regard to President Trump's political activities or candidacy, based solely on facts and law. He explicitly denied that his office was 'weaponized' or politically motivated.

'I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump's political association activities, beliefs or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election.' (11:05), 'We took our actions based on the facts and the law...' (11:17), '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.' (11:38), 'Uh all of that is false. And I'll say a few things. Uh the first is uh the evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy.' (39:11), 'Was your special counsel's office weaponized in any way? No. Did the conduct Did you conduct a politically motivated prosecution of Donald J. Trump? I did not.' (1:22:43).

Smith highlighted that witness intimidation is 'the most corrosive thing that can happen to the rule of law' and that his office sought gag orders in the DC case due to Trump's statements endangering witnesses, staff, and court personnel. He also confirmed he and his staff received threats.

'Witness intimidation is probably the most corrosive thing that can happen to the rule of law.' (1:41:17), 'Our applications for orders limiting Donald Trump's ability to intimidate witnesses, intimidate court staff, intimidate my staff, I have no regrets about that.' (1:47:56), 'Have you been threatened? Yes. Have you learned of other persons... are you aware of any threats that have been made against any of them? Yes.' (1:49:18).

Smith defended the use of toll record subpoenas for members of Congress, stating they were lawfully subpoenaed and relevant to the investigation, particularly to corroborate timelines and contacts related to January 6th. He noted that at the time, DOJ policy did not require notifying judges that the records belonged to members of Congress, a policy that has since changed.

'Toll records were sought for historical telephone routing information... Those records were lawfully subpoenaed and were relevant to complete a comprehensive investigation.' (11:59), 'my office and I personally take the protections of the speech or debate clause seriously.' (56:24), 'I don't think we identified that because I don't think that was department policy at the time.' (57:34), 'the Department guidance on that issue has changed since these events we're talking about, and so now if one were to do that, um you would notify the judge.' (1:12:28).

Smith offered to testify publicly before the committee to correct mischaracterizations about his work and defend his staff, but this request was denied, resulting in a closed-door deposition. This contrasts with past special counsels (Mueller, Durham, Hur) who testified publicly.

'Did you offer to testify publicly before this committee? Yes.' (1:18:33), 'Were you granted the request to testify publicly before this committee? No.' (1:20:24), 'Based upon your knowledge, is it generally the practice for the special counsel who investigated presidential conduct to be given the chance to testify at a public hearing...? Yes.' (1:23:25).

Smith included conspiracy to violate voting rights in his charges, citing evidence that Trump asked local officials to 'find 11,000 votes' and targeted urban areas for vote invalidation, which he considered strong evidence of diluting legitimate votes.

'Uh, the right to vote in a presidential election is one of the most sacred rights that American has... we had strong evidence that the defendants in this case sought to interfere with, obstruct, injure that right.' (1:56:58), 'President Trump was asking local officials to find 11,000 votes. When you find 11,000 votes, you're diluting other people's votes.' (1:57:24).

Special Counsel Smith indicated that his office was closed down following President Trump's re-election, which prevented him from making final determinations on charging co-conspirators in the election interference case.

'I had not made final determinations about that at the time that President Trump won re-election, meaning that our office was going to be closed down.' (35:03).