Prosecutor to testify before House panel
Smith has said Trump 'caused' January 6 attack [2021]
By: James Powel
Aysha Bagchi
and Zac Anderson
USA Today
..... Jack Smith, the former U.S. Justice Department special counsel who brought two criminal cases against President Donald Trump that ultimately were dropped, will publicly testify January 22 [2026] to the House Judiciary Committee. the Republican majority announced January 12 [2026 on X.
.....
Smith gave private testimony to the committee in December [2025] in which he defended his investigation into Trump, saying the basis for the prosecutions "rests entirely with President Trump and his actions."
..... "If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether the president was a Republican or Democrat," Smith said in portions of his opening statement obtained at the time by USA Today.
..... Smith and his team secured indictments in 2023, accusing Trump of illegally retaining classified documents following his first team in office and plotting to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election.
..... Smith dropped both cases after Trump won the 2024 election, citing a Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
..... In his opening statement, Smith said his investigation gathered "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" that Trump "engaged in a criminal scheme" to overturn the 2020 election, which culminated in the January 6 [2021] attack on the Capitol. He added his investigators "developed powerful evidence that showed the President Trump willfully retained highly classified documents after he left office in January of 2021."
.... The committee release video of the deposition and a 255-page transcript on December 31. [2025]
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Smith told lawmakers that Trump was responsible for the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and staunchly defended his efforts to prosecute the president, according to the transcript.
..... "Our view of the evidence was that he caused it and that he exploited it and that it was foreseeable to him." Smith said of Trump's alleged culpability for the Capitol riot.
..... He also painted a portrait of recklessness when it came to the national security documents.
..... "President Trump willfully retained highly classified documents after he left office in January 2021, storing them at his social club, including in a bathroom and a ballroom where events and gathering took place," according tot eh opening statement.
..... During the deposition, Smith adamantly denied there was any political motivation to the prosecutions, pushing back on the suggestion he was trying to influence the 2024 election. Trump has repeatedly criticized Smith, calling him "deranged" and a "Wacko" who was "used for Crooked Joe Biden's attack on his Political Opponent."
..... Jordan raised Republican grievance with Smith obtaining the phone records of lawmakers during his investigation in a January 12 [2026] interview on the Fox News show "Hannity."
..... Republican lawmakers have expressed outrage at disclosure that investigators sought information from a wide range of conservative organizations as part of the probe into Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election less and also obtained limit cell phone date from eight Republican senators during the period around the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. capitol by Trump supporters.
..... Smith;s first appearance at the Capitol came after the Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, subpoenaed Smith for a closed-door deposition. Smith requested a public hearing at the time.
..... USA Today has reached out to the committee for further comment.
..... Contributing: Reuters