President Donald Trump broke the regulation, former particular counsel Jack Smith instructed 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 regulation, the very legal guidelines he took an oath to uphold,” Smith mentioned. “Grand juries in two separate districts reached this conclusion primarily based on his actions as alleged within the indictments they returned.”
Concerning the 2020 election, Smith mentioned that Trump “engaged in a felony scheme to overturn the outcomes and forestall the lawful switch of energy.”
He additionally mentioned the president illegally saved categorised paperwork at his Mar-a-Lago property.
“After leaving workplace in January of ’21, President Trump illegally saved categorised paperwork at his Merrill Lago Social Membership and repeatedly tried to hinder justice to hide his continued retention of these paperwork. Extremely delicate nationwide safety info withheld in a ballroom and a toilet,” Smith mentioned.
Smith additionally mentioned that the information and the regulation supported a prosecution, and that he made selections not primarily based on politics, however the information and the regulation.
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 through Getty Photos
“Our investigation developed proof past an affordable doubt that President Trump engaged in felony exercise. If requested whether or not to prosecute a former president primarily based on the identical information at present, I’d accomplish that no matter whether or not that president was a Democrat or a Republican,” he mentioned.
“Nobody, nobody ought to be above the regulation on this nation, and the regulation required that he be held to account. So that’s what I did,” Smith mentioned. “To have executed in any other case on the information of those instances, 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 towards brokers and prosecutors who investigated the instances.
“My concern is that we’ve seen the rule of regulation operate in our nation for therefore lengthy that many people have come to take it as a right,” he mentioned. “The rule of regulation shouldn’t be self-executing. It depends upon our collective dedication to use it. It requires devoted service on behalf of others, particularly when that service is tough and comes with prices. Our willingness to pay these prices is what check and defines our dedication to the rule of regulation and to this glorious nation.”
In his opening assertion, Committee Chairman Jim Jordan blasted Smith for what he known 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 overlook what they did,” Jordan mentioned.
Former Particular Counsel Jack Smith arrives to testify earlier than a Home Judiciary Committee listening to about his felony 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 felony scheme to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 election and to stop the lawful switch of energy.”
“Particular Counsel Smith, you pursued the information. You adopted each relevant regulation, ethics rule and DOJ regulation. Your selections had been reviewed by the general public Integrity part. You acted primarily based solely on the information. The alternative of Donald Trump, who now could be purporting to take over,” Raskin mentioned.
Trump pleaded not responsible to all fees in each instances, earlier than each instances 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 seem earlier than Congress publicly to debate their findings.
In his closed-door testimony, Smith defended his resolution to twice deliver fees towards Trump — telling lawmakers his staff “had proof past affordable doubt in each instances” that Trump was responsible of the costs within the 2020 election interference and categorised paperwork instances, in response to 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 resolution — opposite to allegations of Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, who requested the testimony — reminiscent of stress from then-President Joe Biden or then-Legal professional Common Merrick Garland, the transcripts exhibits.
“No,” Smith responded repeatedly to these allegations, in response to 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 response to the 255-page transcript of the deposition, launched final yr 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 — supposed to ask questions in regards to the alleged weaponization of the DOJ towards Trump and his allies — primarily centered on the 2020 election case as a substitute.
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 staff additionally mentioned Smith will adjust to U.S. District Choose 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 in step with their dedication of what he may or couldn’t say relating to the instances, in response to the deposition. Smith did say, nevertheless, that Trump “tried to hinder justice” within the categorised paperwork investigation “to hide his continued retention of these paperwork.
