Jack Smith spars with GOP senators

Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two federal indictments against President Donald Trump, will testify on Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he "will not be silenced by continued threats of prosecution" from the Trump administration. Smith believes the rule of law is being threatened like never before.

Smith will also reaffirm his belief that the criminal cases he brought against Trump were justified and that he acted without regard to the former president's political affiliation. In his prepared remarks, Smith stated that he made these decisions based solely on the evidence and without consideration of Trump's political activities or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election.

The hearing is expected to center on subpoenas for phone records obtained by Smith's team during the investigation. Smith will defend the use of these subpoenas as a "common practice" in investigations and explain that they were necessary to understand the scope of the alleged conspiracy between Trump and his Republican allies. However, the disclosure of Smith's team secretly obtaining the phone records has sparked controversy among Republican lawmakers, who view it as an example of overreach by the Biden administration and the Justice Department.

Smith was appointed in 2022 to oversee investigations into Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election results and his retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Both investigations culminated in felony indictments, but Smith dropped the cases after Trump's return to the White House in 2024, citing Justice Department opinions that sitting presidents cannot be indicted federally.

Despite his recent testimony, Smith remains a target of retribution from Trump and his administration, which revoked his security clearances and launched an investigation into Smith by the Office of Special Counsel.