(The Center Square) - Jack Smith, the formal special counsel who organized criminal prosecutions of President Donald Trump, defended his record and leadership on Tuesday.
Lawmakers in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee grilled Smith over his handling of prosecutions against Trump while serving in the Department of Justice under President Joe Biden.
From November 2022 to March 2024, Smith’s office spent more than $35.7 million prosecuting Trump for alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to multiple expenditure reports. Smith said he did not pursue Trump for political purposes and that he would have conducted the investigation regardless of whether a Republican or Democrat was in office.
“I made these decisions without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election,” Smith said in his opening statement. “Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity.”
Smith slammed Trump’s relationship with the Department of Justice over the course of the last two years. He said the president has used the department to exact revenge on political enemies, citing his firing of individuals who previously worked in Smith’s office.
“History teaches that the rule of law is rarely destroyed all at once. It is often weakened by attacks on the institutions and public servants sworn to uphold it,” Smith said. “Since January 2025, we have witnessed precisely such an effort, including the vilification of the career prosecutors, FBI agents, and support staff who served on my team, simply because of their unwavering commitment to the fair and impartial administration of justice without regard for any personal costs.”
Republicans on the committee slammed Smith’s handling of the prosecutions. U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he had information that Smith’s office obtained records on Republican donors and journalists’ conversations with lawmakers and other government officials.
In July, Republican lawmakers revealed Smith obtained text messages from 44 U.S. lawmakers while building his prosecution case against Trump.
“This was not a normal prosecution,” Grassley said. “Mr. Smith’s operation was a partisan weapon that broke the rules.”
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., also said he was concerned about the former special counsel’s access to communications with lawmakers.
“There is, I think, appropriate concern by members of this committee and members of Congress as to your activities related to their telephone conversations, text messages and records,” Durbin said.
Smith defended his collection of toll records as a critical piece of evidence to determine Trump’s involvement in the U.S. Capitol building attack on Jan. 6, 2021. He said Trump and other members of the White House staff repeatedly communicated with members of Congress to delay certification of the election following the attack.
“They were taking the fact that law enforcement officers had been brutally assaulted at this institution and using that to seek to delay the proceedings further in violation of the law,” Smith said. “It was an important part of our investigation and it was centrally relevant to the issue of criminal intent.”
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, referred Smith to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution. He claimed Smith made false statements about the nature of phone records he obtained.
“The toll records are non-content records that we sought to corroborate evidence we had and also to assist us in questioning witnesses about these events,” Smith said.
However, Grassley argued Smith's efforts to obtain journalist and donor communications was frivolous and unncessary to build the case. He said Smith obtained more than 4,000 donor checks and messages between major news outlets according to the investigation.
"He broke the rules, lied to the court and engaged in bad faith throughout. His operation has no credibility – only to the partisan media and Democrats who cheered him on,” Grassley said.
Smith remained defiant throughout his testimony before lawmakers and asserted that he would not succumb to political pressure over his record as special counsel.
“I myself have been threatened with jail by the president of the United States,” Smith said. “I will not be silenced by the continued threats of prosecution from the president or others.”
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