Former special counsel Jack Smith testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Republicans accused him of abuse of authority and perjury.
Former special counsel Jack Smith mounted a vigorous defense of his two criminal investigations into President Donald Trump on Tuesday, telling the Senate Judiciary Committee he stands by his decisions and that his team acted without regard to politics, as Republicans on the panel accused him of abuse of authority and suggested he himself should face prosecution. Smith, who led investigations that produced two federal indictments against Trump in 2022, said he made his charging decisions without regard to Trump’s political activities, beliefs or candidacy in the 2024 election, and said he would not be silenced by continued threats of prosecution from the administration.
Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, accused Smith of taking “partisanship to a new level,” citing his team’s collection of toll and text records from 44 current and former members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats, obtained through the National Archives and Records Administration as part of the Jan. 6 investigation. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., pressed Smith on his whereabouts during a prior public appearance, at one point suggesting Smith had committed perjury by denying he attended a basketball game in Atlanta; Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., the committee’s top Democrat, later said Schmitt owed Smith an apology. Smith also testified that the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., whose sister Darline Graham used her questioning time to defend her brother, had privately agreed with investigators that Trump’s claims of election fraud were false, despite Graham’s public statements at the time.
The hearing marked Smith’s second appearance before Congress, following an eight-hour closed-door House Judiciary Committee deposition in December and public House testimony in January. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has accused Smith of making false statements during that earlier testimony and referred him to the Justice Department for potential prosecution; Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed in July that the department was investigating the referral. Smith’s attorneys have called the allegations “spurious,” saying he provided truthful and responsive answers throughout his prior testimony. Both criminal cases against Trump, over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents after leaving office, were dropped after Trump’s 2024 election win, under longstanding Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Sources: This report is based on information from CNN, NBC News, ABC News, CBS News and PBS NewsHour.