Jack Smith Defends Trump Prosecutions Before Senate Panel

Former special counsel Jack Smith told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that he stands by his decision to bring criminal charges against President Donald Trump, telling lawmakers he would make the same call "regardless of whether that President was a Republican or a Democrat," according to ABC News.

Smith, who led two separate Justice Department investigations into Trump, appeared before the panel as several Republican senators suggested Smith himself should face prosecution over how the probes were conducted.

What Did Jack Smith Tell the Senate Judiciary Committee?

In his opening statement, Smith said his charging decisions were made without regard to Trump's political standing. "I stand by my decisions as special counsel, including my decision to bring charges against President Trump. I made these decisions without regard to President Trump's political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election," Smith said, per ABC News.

He added that he would reach the same conclusion today on the same set of facts, saying, "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."

Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, pressed Smith on whether his office improperly sought financial records from Republican groups during the Jan. 6, 2021, investigation. "Yes, we acquired financial information," Smith responded, according to the outlet. "As I sit here right now, I cannot recite to you every subpoena we issued. I can tell you why we issued subpoenas and it was to conduct a criminal investigation of one of the most serious crimes that has ever happened in our nation's history."

Why Are Republicans Calling for Smith's Prosecution?

Grassley told Smith his investigation "was a partisan weapon that broke the rules, lied to the court and engaged in bad faith throughout his operation and he has no credibility, only to the partisan media and Democrats that cheered him on as they will do today," ABC News reported.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, went further, telling Smith, "You have done an enormous damage, and I believe your conduct represents the most egregious abuse of power in the history of the Department of Justice," according to the outlet's account of the hearing.

The hearing follows a separate criminal referral against Smith from Rep. Jim Jordan alleging perjury, a matter ABC News notes is tied to the broader Republican push to scrutinize how the special counsel's office operated.

What Did Democrats Say in Smith's Defense?

Democrats on the panel used the hearing to focus on the underlying conduct their investigation examined rather than Smith's tactics. Sen. Cory Booker said Republicans' line of attack amounted to "gas lighting the American people" by "continuing to perpetuate the big lie in America that Donald Trump was somehow cheated out of the 2020 election," per ABC News.

Ranking Member Dick Durbin, D-Ill., argued in his opening remarks that Republican attacks on Smith were an effort to deflect from the evidence his team compiled, according to the outlet. ABC News reports Democrats used their questioning time to revisit the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and the evidence Smith's investigation gathered on Trump's alleged efforts to exploit the Capitol violence to delay certification of President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.

What Happened to Members of Smith's Investigative Team?

After Grassley named several of Smith's former colleagues during his opening statement, Smith defended their work directly. "I believe public servants should be protected. The members of my team you just mentioned, I'm extremely proud to have worked with them," Smith said, according to ABC News. He called it "an outrage" that team members had lost their jobs or otherwise faced what he described as political targeting since the current Justice Department took over. "The fact that they have been targeted illegally, lost their jobs illegally, and had their lives turned upside down by this Department of Justice is an outrage," Smith said.

What Were the Two Investigations Into Trump?

Smith led two separate federal probes into Trump during his tenure as special counsel: one centered on the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and Trump's conduct around the certification of the 2020 election, and a second examining Trump's handling of classified documents. Tuesday's hearing focused heavily on the Jan. 6 probe, with Republicans questioning Smith's subpoena practices toward GOP-aligned groups and Democrats pressing to keep the hearing's focus on the evidence Smith's office gathered about the Capitol attack itself, per ABC News's account of the exchanges.

The full record of Tuesday's testimony, including Grassley's and Booker's full remarks, is detailed in ABC News's report on the hearing.