President Donald Trump broke the legislation, former particular counsel Jack Smith informed committee members Thursday at an look earlier than the GOP-led Home Judiciary Committee.
Smith, who led investigations into Trump’s alleged interference within the 2020 election and alleged mishandling of classified documents, is testifying publicly for first time about his probes.
“President Trump was charged as a result of the proof established that he willfully broke the legislation, the very legal guidelines he took an oath to uphold,” Smith mentioned. “Grand juries in two separate districts reached this conclusion based mostly on his actions as alleged within the indictments they returned.”
Relating to the 2020 election, Smith mentioned that Trump “engaged in a legal scheme to overturn the outcomes and stop the lawful switch of energy.”
He additionally mentioned the president illegally stored categorised paperwork at his Mar-a-Lago property.
“After leaving workplace in January of ’21, President Trump illegally stored categorised paperwork at his Merrill Lago Social Membership and repeatedly tried to impede justice to hide his continued retention of these paperwork. Extremely delicate nationwide safety data withheld in a ballroom and a rest room,” Smith mentioned.
Smith additionally mentioned that the details and the legislation supported a prosecution, and that he made selections not based mostly on politics, however the details and the legislation.
Former particular counsel Jack Smith, testifies earlier than the Home Judiciary Committee about his investigations into President Donald Trump, within the Rayburn Home Workplace Constructing on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 22, 2026.
Saul Loeb/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
“Our investigation developed proof past an affordable doubt that President Trump engaged in legal exercise. If requested whether or not to prosecute a former president based mostly on the identical details at the moment, I might achieve this no matter whether or not that president was a Democrat or a Republican,” he mentioned.
“Nobody, nobody must be above the legislation on this nation, and the legislation required that he be held to account. So that’s what I did,” Smith mentioned. “To have carried out in any other case on the details of those circumstances, would have been to shirk my duties as a prosecutor and as a public servant, of which I had no intention of doing.”
He additionally criticized what he mentioned was the retribution carried out by the president and his allies in opposition to brokers and prosecutors who investigated the circumstances.
“My worry is that we now have seen the rule of legislation operate in our nation for therefore lengthy that many people have come to take it without any consideration,” he mentioned. “The rule of legislation is just not self-executing. It is determined by our collective dedication to use it. It requires devoted service on behalf of others, particularly when that service is troublesome and comes with prices. Our willingness to pay these prices is what take a look at and defines our dedication to the rule of legislation and to this excellent nation.”
In his opening assertion, Committee Chairman Jim Jordan blasted Smith for what he referred to as a partisan investigation into President Trump and different Republicans.
“Democrats have been going after President Trump for ten years, for a decade, and the nation ought to by no means, ever neglect what they did,” Jordan mentioned.
Former Particular Counsel Jack Smith arrives to testify earlier than a Home Judiciary Committee listening to about his legal investigation President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 22, 2026.
Kylie Cooper/Reuters
Jamie Raskin, the committee’s rating Democrat, mentioned that Smith proved that Trump “engaged in a legal scheme to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 election and to stop the lawful switch of energy.”
“Particular Counsel Smith, you pursued the details. You adopted each relevant legislation, ethics rule and DOJ regulation. Your selections had been reviewed by the general public Integrity part. You acted based mostly solely on the details. The alternative of Donald Trump, who now’s purporting to take over,” Raskin mentioned.
Trump pleaded not responsible to all fees in each circumstances, earlier than each circumstances were dropped following Trump’s reelection as a result of Justice Division’s long-standing coverage barring the prosecution of a sitting president.
His Thursday look marks Smith’s second time earlier than the committee, after he appeared behind closed doors final month. It’s customary for former particular counsels to look earlier than Congress publicly to debate their findings.
In his closed-door testimony, Smith defended his determination to twice deliver fees in opposition to Trump — telling lawmakers his group “had proof past affordable doubt in each circumstances” that Trump was responsible of the costs within the 2020 election interference and categorised paperwork circumstances, in keeping with a transcript of the listening to.
Former Justice Division particular counsel Jack Smith stands earlier than the Home Judiciary Committee earlier than a listening to about his investigations into President Donald Trump, Jan. 22, 2026 on the Capitol in Washington.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
And Smith fervently denied that there was any political affect behind his determination — opposite to allegations of Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, who requested the testimony — equivalent to stress from then-President Joe Biden or then-Legal professional Common Merrick Garland, the transcripts exhibits.
“No,” Smith responded repeatedly to these allegations, in keeping with the transcript.
Simply over an hour earlier than his testimony on Dec. 17, the Division of Justice despatched an e mail to Smith’s legal professionals stopping him from discussing the categorised paperwork case, in keeping with the 255-page transcript of the deposition, launched final 12 months by the Judiciary Committee together with a video of the listening to.
This meant Smith was unable to reply most questions on that case and the deposition — meant to ask questions concerning the alleged weaponization of the DOJ in opposition to Trump and his allies — primarily centered on the 2020 election case as an alternative.
On this Dec. 17, 2025, file photograph, former Division of Justice Particular Counsel Jack Smith departs on the finish of a Republican-led deposition earlier than the Home Judiciary Committee as a part of its oversight into DOJ investigations into President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP, FILE
His group additionally mentioned Smith will adjust to U.S. District Decide Aileen Cannon’s order that blocked the release of the second quantity of his report coping with the categorised paperwork case.
Smith’s counsel mentioned the DOJ additionally refused to ship a lawyer to advise Smith on whether or not his statements had been according to their dedication of what he might or couldn’t say concerning the circumstances, in keeping with the deposition. Smith did say, nonetheless, that Trump “tried to impede justice” within the categorised paperwork investigation “to hide his continued retention of these paperwork.
