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Former special counsel Jack Smith testified this week that President Donald Trump deliberately sought to remain in power after losing the 2020 election and knowingly exploited the violence that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In his first public appearance since leaving the Justice Department last year, Smith told the House Judiciary Committee that Trump “sought to prey” on his supporters and pursued unlawful efforts to overturn the election, even as it became clear his claims of widespread fraud were false.
“Our investigation revealed that Donald Trump is the person who caused Jan. 6, it was foreseeable to him, and that he sought to exploit the violence,” Smith said during the nearly five-hour hearing.
The hearing unfolded amid sharp political tensions, with Trump posting attacks on Smith in real time on social media and suggesting the former prosecutor himself should be investigated. In the hearing room, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes — convicted for his role in the Capitol attack — sat among spectators, and a confrontation erupted between an audience member and Capitol Police officers, underscoring how Jan. 6 continues to divide Congress and the country.
First public testimony since leaving DOJ
Smith was appointed special counsel in 2022 to oversee two federal investigations involving Trump: one examining efforts to overturn the 2020 election and another involving the mishandling of classified documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
After Trump won reelection in 2024, Smith abandoned both cases, citing longstanding Justice Department policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president. Trump had faced a four-count indictment related to election interference and a separate indictment over classified documents.
Smith told lawmakers Thursday that abandoning the cases did not alter his conclusions.
“President Trump was charged because the evidence established that he willfully broke the law,” Smith said. “If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so.”
“No one should be above the law in this country,” he added.
Smith also said he expects Trump’s administration to pursue retaliation against him but insisted he would not be intimidated.
“I’m not going to pretend that didn’t happen because he’s threatening me,” Smith said, adding that investigators uncovered evidence of “serious crimes.”
Republicans target Cassidy Hutchinson testimony
Republicans used the hearing to attack the credibility of Smith’s investigation and to revisit testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, whose dramatic account before the House Jan. 6 committee in 2022 became one of the most widely cited moments of the investigation.
Hutchinson testified that she had been told Trump lunged for the steering wheel of the presidential limousine on Jan. 6 as he demanded to go to the Capitol — a claim disputed by others.
“Mr. Smith, is Cassidy Hutchinson a liar?” asked Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the Judiciary Committee chairman.
Smith said Hutchinson’s account was secondhand and that the Secret Service agent in the vehicle did not corroborate the story. He said prosecutors had not made final decisions about which witnesses would testify at trial.
“We had a large choice of witnesses,” Smith said, explaining that one challenge of the case was distilling extensive evidence into a concise presentation.
He added that many of the most compelling witnesses were Republicans who had supported Trump and worked on his campaign.
Subpoenas, gag orders and witness intimidation
Republicans also criticized Smith’s office for obtaining phone toll records of members of Congress, including then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and for seeking nondisclosure orders that kept subpoenas secret.
Smith said such steps were routine and necessary, particularly given what he described as credible concerns about witness intimidation.
“My office didn’t spy on anyone,” Smith said. “We were trying to understand the scope of the conspiracy.”
He pointed to Trump’s public warnings that he would be “coming after” those who opposed him as justification for seeking protective orders.
“I had grave concerns about obstruction of justice in this investigation,” Smith said. “It’s not incumbent on a prosecutor to wait until someone gets killed before they move for an order to protect the proceedings.”
Democrats warn of threats to democracy
Democrats framed the hearing as a warning about accountability and democratic norms.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington asked Smith about the consequences of failing to hold presidents accountable for election misconduct.
“If we do not hold the most powerful people in our society to the same standards,” Smith said, “it can be catastrophic.”
“It can endanger our election process, it can endanger election workers and ultimately, our democracy.”
Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado read aloud Trump’s social media attacks during the hearing, including a post calling Smith “a deranged animal” and urging the attorney general to investigate him.
“We have a word for this,” Neguse said. “It’s called weaponization.”
Unfinished business and lingering fallout
Smith said he has been unable to discuss details of the classified documents case because Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon blocked the release of a final report. That injunction is set to expire next month, though Trump’s lawyers have asked the court to keep the report permanently under seal.
Smith confirmed that he stopped short of pursuing an insurrection charge against Trump, noting that the issue was addressed during Trump’s second impeachment, which ended in acquittal in the Senate.
Asked about Trump’s decision to pardon roughly 1,500 people convicted in connection with the Jan. 6 attack — including individuals who assaulted police officers — Smith paused.
“I don’t get it,” he said. “I never will.”
Smith is expected to testify before the Senate at a future hearing as lawmakers continue probing the now-abandoned investigations and the events surrounding Jan. 6.
