Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers in a closed-door interview Wednesday that his investigative team “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that President Donald Trump criminally conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to portions of Smith’s opening statement obtained by The Associated Press.
Smith also said investigators amassed “powerful evidence” that Trump broke the law by retaining classified documents from his first term at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and by obstructing government efforts to recover the records.
“I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs or candidacy in the 2024 election,” Smith said. “We took actions based on what the facts and the law required — the very lesson I learned early in my career as a prosecutor.”
Smith added that he would have pursued the same course regardless of party affiliation, saying he would prosecute a former president “based on the same facts today … whether the president was a Republican or Democrat.”
The private deposition before the House Judiciary Committee marked Smith’s first opportunity to answer lawmakers’ questions, though behind closed doors, about two investigations into Trump that resulted in criminal charges later abandoned between Trump’s first and second terms. Smith was subpoenaed earlier this month to provide testimony and documents as part of a Republican-led investigation into the probes conducted during the Biden administration.
Smith complied with the subpoena despite having volunteered more than a month earlier to testify publicly before the committee, an offer his attorneys said Republicans declined.
“Testifying before this committee, Jack is showing tremendous courage in light of the remarkable and unprecedented retribution campaign against him by this administration and this White House,” Smith attorney Lanny Breuer told reporters Wednesday. “Jack Smith is a career prosecutor who conducted this investigation based on the facts and the law, and nothing more.”
Trump told reporters at the White House that he favored a public hearing, saying, “I’d rather see him testify publicly. There’s no way he can answer the questions.”
Smith is expected to discuss both investigations but will not respond to questions involving grand jury material, which is protected by law, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. He is also expected to address what he considers Republican mischaracterizations of his work, including criticism of his team’s review of cellphone records belonging to some GOP lawmakers.
Smith was appointed in 2022 to oversee Justice Department investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden and his handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Charges were filed in both cases.
Smith later abandoned the prosecutions after Trump was elected president again last year, citing long-standing Justice Department opinions barring the indictment of a sitting president.
Republicans who control Congress have sought interviews with members of Smith’s investigative team. In recent weeks, they have focused on disclosures that prosecutors reviewed phone records of certain GOP lawmakers from around Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop certification of Biden’s victory. The records showed only incoming and outgoing numbers and call duration, not call content.
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