In Testimony, Jack Smith Defends Decision to Prosecute Trump

[Uncle Joe]

His remarks amounted to the summation he was never allowed to deliver in a courtroom, and concluded that Donald Trump had “engaged in criminal activity” that undermined democracy.

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“Our investigation revealed that Donald Trump is the person who caused Jan. 6, that it was foreseeable to him and that he sought to exploit the violence,” Mr. Smith said, sitting alone at the witness table with a water bottle, legal pad and white ballpoint pen.

He appeared wan and tired, speaking so softly at times his voice did not register with voice transcription apps. Before sitting at the witness table, Mr. Smith greeted four law enforcement officers who were attacked by the pro-Trump mob at the Capitol — Michael Fanone, Daniel Hodges, Aquilino Gonell and Harry Dunn.

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For all their public denunciations of Mr. Smith, House Republicans had been privately reluctant to give him a public forum to make his case against Mr. Trump, after courts threw out charges against him in Florida and the District of Columbia.

Thursday’s testimony followed months of back and forth. Lawmakers debated how to proceed, and Mr. Smith demanded that he be given the right to defend his team. Lawmakers and Mr. Smith’s lawyers also wrestled over what the former special prosecutor was allowed to talk about (the election interference indictment in Washington) and what he was not allowed to discuss (many details about the document retention case sealed by a Trump-appointed judge in Florida).

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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/us/politics/jack-smith-trump-testimony-congress.html