WASHINGTON — Former special counsel Jack Smith on Wednesday defended his now-abandoned prosecutions of President Donald Trump, telling the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee that his team developed proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
“Rather than accept his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power,” Smith said in prepared remarks, adding that his decision to bring charges was made “without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election.”
- Advertisement -
Smith, appearing publicly before the panel a little over a month after a closed-door deposition about the investigations, said politics played no role in his judgment. “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 Democrat or a Republican,” he said. “No one should be above the law in this country and the law required that he be held to account.” He added that Trump “was charged because the evidence established that he willfully broke the very laws that he took an oath to uphold.”
Trump has denied wrongdoing and cast the cases as politically motivated, accusing the Justice Department of being weaponized against him. He has repeatedly attacked Smith, calling him “deranged” and a “sick son of a b*tch” at a press conference this week.
Wednesday’s hearing highlighted a long-running clash between House Republicans and the Justice Department over the Trump cases and broader claims of politicization. Smith had asked that his initial appearance be public, but the committee’s GOP majority required a private session. His testimony brought into the open his rationale for charging a former president and then terminating those cases after Trump’s return to the White House.
Neither case came to trial. In line with a Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president, Smith dropped both after Trump won the November 2024 election. The move left unresolved some of the most consequential allegations faced by a former U.S. president, even as Smith insisted that the evidence reached the highest criminal standard and that accountability should not hinge on partisan considerations.
Since taking office for a second term, Trump has urged the Justice Department to pursue cases against Smith and other perceived political opponents, escalating a political and legal confrontation that has outlived the 2020 contest and continues to define Washington’s institutional battles.
Separately, cases brought against prominent Trump critics James Comey, the former FBI director, and New York Attorney General Letitia James collapsed last year after a judge ruled that the prosecutor who filed those charges was unlawfully appointed. The rulings underscored the legal and procedural vulnerabilities that have accompanied high-profile prosecutions across the political spectrum.
Smith’s testimony reinforced the stakes around the Justice Department’s independence and the limits of its power when the subject is a sitting president. While he framed his charging decisions as a straightforward application of the law to the facts, House Republicans pressed their oversight role and questioned the integrity of the process. The competing narratives — a prosecutor asserting equal justice under the law and a president alleging partisan persecution — remain unresolved as the committee weighs its next steps.
For Smith, the message was clear: he would make the same call again. For Trump and his allies, the hearing offered a fresh venue to claim vindication after the cases were dropped. The gulf between those positions ensures the fight over the 2020 election and its legal aftermath will continue to shape American politics and the nation’s justice system.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
