Former special counsel Jack Smith forcefully defended his prosecutions of President Donald Trump and his team's investigative tactics on Tuesday, September 29, pushing back against repeated Republican criticism during a contentious Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that divided sharply along party lines.
How Republicans Approached the Hearing
The hearing offered Republicans a forum to try to paint Smith as a political operative and renew criticism that his prosecutions of the then-candidate were politicized, unfolding as they did during the 2024 presidential race. Some Republican senators went further than policy criticism, describing Smith during the hearing as a "villain" and a "dirtbag," with one comparing him unfavorably to former President Richard Nixon. Republicans have separately pushed for Smith himself to be prosecuted.
A Bungled Attempt to Catch Smith in a Lie
The hearing notably featured a senator's bungled attempt to accuse Smith of lying about a basketball game, an exchange that didn't land as intended and became one of the session's more talked-about moments.
The Phone Records Controversy
Republican senators pressed Smith anew about his team's access to the phone records of GOP lawmakers during the investigation into Trump's efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss. Smith has consistently maintained that such subpoenas are common practice in investigations of this kind, and said they were necessary in this instance to understand the "scope of the conspiracy" between Trump and his Republican allies. This isn't the first time this specific issue has surfaced — a December deposition transcript, later made public, showed Smith confirming his team obtained only timestamps of calls around the January 6 attack, not the content of the calls themselves, and defending the decision as lawful given the scope of the investigation.
Smith's Response
"I stand by my testimony before the House of Representatives," Smith said Tuesday, referencing his earlier closed-door deposition before the House Judiciary Committee in December, later released publicly, in which he asserted his team had developed evidence sufficient to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that Trump had engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 election results.
How Democrats Responded
Democrats rallied in Smith's defense throughout the hearing, eliciting testimony on the legal and factual basis for the criminal cases brought against Trump while the case for a Trump indictment was being built, and criticizing the Trump administration's decision to fire prosecutors who had worked on the investigations. Senate Judiciary Committee's top Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, accused Republicans of spreading "baseless conspiracy theories" about Smith's investigations in what he characterized as an effort to "whitewash" the history of Trump's 2020 election loss and the subsequent January 6 Capitol attack.
Background on the Underlying Cases
Smith and his team secured indictments against Trump in 2023 on two separate matters: allegations that Trump illegally retained classified documents after leaving office following his first term, and allegations that he plotted to overturn his 2020 election defeat. Smith ultimately dropped both cases following Trump's 2024 election victory, citing longstanding Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Trump's Own Past Characterization of Smith
Trump has previously described Smith in extremely harsh personal terms, at one point calling him a "deranged animal, who shouldn't be allowed to practice Law." Smith, for his part, has repeatedly insisted he acted without political motivation, telling House Republicans in his earlier December deposition: "I am not a politician, and I have no partisan loyalties," and separately declaring, "I will not be intimidated."
Why This Hearing Was Held
Tuesday's session came amid continued Republican efforts to use congressional oversight to challenge the legitimacy of the Trump investigations and, in some cases, to push for Smith's own prosecution — an ongoing political and legal fight that Tuesday's hearing did little to resolve, given how firmly both sides held their positions throughout the exchange.
What's Next
With neither side's position shifting as a result of Tuesday's testimony, the underlying dispute over the legitimacy and conduct of Smith's investigations appears likely to remain a live political flashpoint, particularly if Republicans pursue further hearings or additional oversight actions targeting Smith or the Justice Department's earlier handling of the cases. For continuing coverage, see the full AP report.