Ex-special counsel Smith tells senators he won’t ‘be silenced’ by Trump’s threats of prosecution

Former special counsel Jack Smith told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he stands by the two federal criminal cases he brought against President Donald Trump and said he would make the same prosecutorial decisions today regardless of a president’s political party. Smith said his team acted without political considerations and maintained that investigators had developed evidence they believed proved Trump committed serious crimes. He also warned that he believes the rule of law is under unusual strain and said he would not be intimidated by threats of prosecution from Trump or his allies. Republican senators challenged Smith’s conduct, arguing that his investigations were politically motivated and overly aggressive. Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley focused criticism on subpoenas issued for phone records of Republican lawmakers who had been in contact with Trump around January 6, 2021. Smith has defended those subpoenas as a standard investigative tool necessary to determine the extent of communications connected to efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Democrats, including Sen. Dick Durbin, defended Smith and accused Republicans of trying to discredit the investigations and minimize Trump’s role in efforts to reverse the 2020 election results and the events surrounding the January 6 Capitol attack. A major point of dispute involves what information Smith’s investigators obtained. Smith has said subpoenas for lawmakers’ “toll records” revealed only information such as the time and duration of calls, not their content. Republican Rep. Jim Jordan has referred Smith to the Justice Department for possible prosecution, arguing that earlier testimony was misleading because investigators also obtained the contents of some lawmakers’ text messages through a separate subpoena to the National Archives. Smith’s attorneys say his testimony was truthful because he was specifically answering questions about toll records. Smith was appointed in 2022 by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents after leaving office. Both investigations produced felony indictments, but Smith dropped the federal cases after Trump won the 2024 election, citing longstanding Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president. By Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer, The Associated Press.