WASHINGTON — In his first public testimony sooner than Congress about his investigations into President Donald Trump, feeble special counsel Jack Smith warned American citizens no longer to take the rule of thumb of regulation as a gradual, and insisted he wouldn’t be intimidated by the president no topic his assaults.
“I have seen how the rule of law can erode. My fear is that we have seen the rule of law function in this country for so long that many of us have come to take it for granted,” Smith stated during testimony sooner than the Condo Judiciary Committee.
“But, the rule of law is not self-executing — it depends on our collective commitment to apply it. It requires dedicated service on behalf of others, especially when that service is difficult and comes with costs,” he stated. “Our willingness to pay those costs is what tests and defines our commitment to the rule of law and to this wonderful country.”
As Smith spoke, Trump continued his assaults towards him, this time on Truth Social. Smith stated that Trump had made statements that “are meant to intimidate me.”
“I will not be intimidated,” he said. “I think these statements are also made as a warning to others what will happen if they stand up. And I am, as I say, I’m not going to be intimidated.”
The hearing broke little new ground but gave the public a chance to see and hear Smith, and it offered the longtime prosecutor a chance to talk publicly about his investigations.
The questions from the committee exposed the political fracture in Congress. Republican allies repeated Trump’s claims that he had been unfairly targeted and attempted to undermine the Smith investigation. Democrats supported Smith, pointing to statements from GOP lawmakers in the moments after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack that placed at least some blame for the riot at Trump’s feet.
Trump has denied wrongdoing, calling the cases politically motivated “witch hunts.” And since his return to office, he has repeatedly called for Smith to be prosecuted.
On Truth Social on Thursday, Trump called Smith “a deranged animal, who shouldn’t be allowed to practice Law.” The president said he hoped that Attorney General Pam Bondi “is looking at what he’s done, including some of the crooked and corrupt witnesses that he was attempting to use in his case against me. The whole thing was a Democrat SCAM — A big price should be paid by them for what they have put our Country through!”
Asked if he believes Trump’s Justice Department will find a way to indict him, Smith said, “I believe they will do everything in their power to do that because they’ve been ordered to by the president.”
The former special counsel told committee members that his investigation developed “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump “engaged in a criminal scheme” to overturn his 2020 election loss, leading to the riot at the U.S. Capitol. Smith said he welcomed the opportunity to appear and combat “faulty and misleading narratives” about his investigation.
The Judiciary Committee, led Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a top Trump ally, is investigating Smith and his former office over the indictments. On Thursday, Jordan criticized the investigations and said people weren’t fooled by what he claimed was a politically motivated investigation.
“It was always about politics. The good news is, the American people saw through it,” Jordan said, because they elected Trump again.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, said Trump believed Smith belonged in prison not because he’d done anything wrong, but because he “did the entirety excellent.”
“You pursued the facts, you followed the law, you stuck with extreme caution, to every rule of professional responsibility. You had the audacity to do your job,” Raskin stated.
Smith has already confronted closed-door questioning from participants of Congress. Trump’s allies publicly pressed him Thursday about the investigations: one in reference to Trump’s dealing with of labeled paperwork and one other in reference to Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
U.S. District Decide Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, has brushed apart the labeled paperwork case, ruling that Smith’s appointment had been illegal. Smith dropped the election case after Trump was re-elected in 2024, citing Justice Department policy towards prosecuting sitting presidents.
Through the closed-door deposition sooner than the committee in December, Smith stated Trump had an very excellent to spread falsehoods about the 2020 election, nevertheless no longer to strive to defraud the manager by utilizing those falsehoods to defend in place of job.
“As we stated within the indictment, he was free to inform that he idea he obtained the election. He was even free to inform falsely that he obtained the election,” Smith stated in that deposition. “But what he was no longer free to comprise was violate federal regulation and utilize spirited — knowingly faulty statements about election fraud to goal a correct executive characteristic.”
Smith’s articulate stumbled on that Trump “impressed his supporters to commit acts of bodily violence” and he urged Congress that he could well level to that Trump engaged in a “criminal scheme” to overturn the 2020 election.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, who labored alongside Smith as a prosecutor, stated he was willing for the high-rigidity moment.
“You’ve bought the very ideal regulation enforcement officer within the country and the president of the USA if truth be told asserting they’re going to wield their energy towards you, even while you’ve done nothing crude,” she stated. “But he’s gorgeous unflappable.”
On Thursday, Smith stated American citizens must “never forget” that 140 regulation enforcement officers had been injured within the Jan. 6 insurrection, which followed Trump’s speech on the Ellipse come the White Condo. Just a few of those officers had been within the viewers Thursday.
“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 stated.
And he warned that the rioters who had been convicted of assaulting police officers during the attack on the Capitol are “unhealthy to their community.”
“All these of us earn already dedicated crimes towards communities again. And I mediate all of us, if we’re cheap, know that there’s going to be more crimes dedicated by these of us indirectly,” Smith stated.
Trump pardoned roughly 1,500 defendants once he occurred of job again. Smith stated he was outraged on the pardons.
“I comprise no longer sign why you would mass pardon of us who assaulted police officers. I don’t discover it. I by no procedure will,” he stated.
Ryan J. Reilly is a justice reporter for NBC Files.