Jack Smith faces public grilling on Capitol Hill about Trump prosecutions
Former special counsel Jack Smith is set to appear Thursday on Capitol Hill for a televised hearing, during which he will face questions from House Judiciary Committee Republicans and Democrats about his two prosecutions of President Donald Trump.
Republicans, led by Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, are expected to level allegations at Smith that he brought politicized criminal charges against a leading presidential candidate to interfere with the 2024 election.
Smith’s appearance will mark the second time in as many months that he has answered questions before the Republican-led committee after he sat for an eight-hour deposition behind closed doors in December.
JACK SMITH SUBPOENAED FOR DEPOSITION WITH HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
Smith has long wanted to speak publicly about his work, and Trump, who has said Smith is a "thug" who belongs in jail, said in the Oval Office last year that he wanted the same.
"I'd rather see him testify publicly because there's no way he can answer the questions," Trump had said upon learning that Smith would first be testifying behind closed doors.
The public hearing featuring Smith is set to begin at 10 a.m. and comes as part of the committee’s ongoing probe into his special counsel work.
Republicans have specifically criticized Smith for seeking gag orders against Trump during his presidential campaign, attempting to fast-track court proceedings and subpoenaing records and phone data of hundreds of Trump-aligned people and entities, including numerous members of Congress.
The Republicans will likely broach the controversial subpoenas for the phone records, a source familiar with the hearing told Fox News Digital.
Republicans are also likely to raise questions about Smith’s team approving $20,000 in payments to an FBI source, known as a confidential human source, to gather intel on Trump, the source said.
Smith charged Trump with attempting to illegally overturn the 2020 election and with retention of classified documents, but he dropped both cases after Trump won the 2024 election, citing a DOJ policy that discourages prosecuting sitting presidents.
In his opening statement for the hearing, obtained by Fox News Digital, Smith plans to state unequivocally that he stands by his decision to charge Trump.
"Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity," Smith plans to say. "If asked whether to prosecute a former President based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether that President was a Republican or a Democrat."
BIDEN DOJ SUBPOENAED JIM JORDAN'S PHONE RECORDS COVERING MORE THAN TWO YEARS
According to Smith's team, the former special counsel plans to emphasize that his indictments were appropriate and that he carefully followed the DOJ manual, including the DOJ’s policies about interfering with elections.
Smith's team also said the former special counsel does not plan to respond to questions that could reveal legally protected grand jury information or details in the second volume of his final special counsel report, which pertains to his classified documents case about Trump. Judge Aileen Cannon has sealed that report through February.
One persisting point of contention has been that Smith sought phone data belonging to numerous Republican senators and House members as part of his investigation into the 2020 election. He has repeatedly defended that decision, saying it was not driven by partisanship.
"If Donald Trump had chosen to call a number of Democratic senators, we would have gotten toll records for Democratic Senators," Smith said during his deposition last month. "So responsibility for why these records, why we collected them, that's — that lies with Donald Trump."
The Republicans who were targeted, including Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., have said the subpoenas violated their constitutional rights because of added layers of immunity that the Constitution affords to lawmakers.