A bold defense: Jack Smith argues that his prosecutions of President Trump were driven by the facts, not political considerations, in a private congressional session.
Special Counsel Jack Smith, pictured in August 2023, told House members Wednesday that his prosecutorial choices were not guided by Trump’s political ties, actions, beliefs, or 2024 presidential bid, according to parts of his opening statement NPR obtained.
Speaking behind closed doors to the House Judiciary Committee, Smith said his team established proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump participated in a criminal scheme aimed at overturning the 2020 election. He also asserted there was strong evidence that Trump willfully retained classified documents and attempted to obstruct justice to conceal their existence.
According to Smith, the decision to bring charges against Trump was his alone, though he stressed that the legal basis for those charges lay entirely in Trump’s conduct.
Smith appeared privately before the Republican-led committee after the panel rejected his offer to testify publicly about the investigations.
The investigations produced two indictments against Trump: one alleging attempts to overturn the 2020 election, and another accusing him of obstructing justice and mishandling classified materials.
Following Trump’s 2024 election victory, the Justice Department dropped the election-related case and abandoned its appeal of a federal judge’s dismissal of the classified-documents prosecution.
Trump and his allies, including GOP members of the panel, have long claimed Smith pursued Trump for political reasons—a contention Smith denies.
He reaffirmed his stance on pursuing the cases on their merits.
“If asked today whether I would prosecute a former president based on the same facts, I would do so regardless of whether the president was a Republican or a Democrat,” he said.
Beyond the NPR excerpted remarks, Smith is expected to use the deposition to address what his team sees as mischaracterizations of his work, according to an anonymous source familiar with the matter. The source noted that the special counsel’s office did obtain phone records belonging to some Republican members of Congress.
Even though the session was private, Smith’s ability to speak is still constrained. He cannot address questions tied to grand jury materials, which remain under seal by secrecy rules.
