Former Special Counsel Jack Smith arrives to testify during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on January 22, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Republicans on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee tried to poke holes in former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of President Donald Trump on Thursday, while Democrats on the panel praised him and Smith reiterated his finding that Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election results.
Republicans on the panel accused Smith, a longtime prosecutor who has led investigations of officials of both major U.S. parties and international figures, of conducting a partisan investigation into Trump ahead of the 2024 election.
“It was always about politics,” Chairman Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio, said at the opening of the hearing.
During the hearing, Trump posted on social media suggesting he would prosecute Smith.
But Smith and the many Democrats on the committee who defended him Thursday repeatedly asserted that his investigation was by the book, guided by Justice Department guidelines, legal requirements, “the facts and the law.”
“I made my decisions without regard to President Trump’s political affiliations, activities, beliefs or candidacy in the 2024 election,” Smith said in an opening statement. “President Trump was impeached because the evidence showed that he willfully violated the law – the very laws he swore an oath to defend.”
Smith led two cases against Trump in the years between his presidential terms.
One accused Trump in District of Columbia federal court of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results. The other, in federal court in Florida, accused Trump of mishandling classified documents.
Grand juries indicted Trump in both cases, but the Justice Department dropped both cases after Trump’s victory in 2024, consistent with the department’s policy that prohibits criminal prosecution of a sitting president.
Trump tries “intimidation”
In the middle of the five-hour hearing, Trump posted on Truth Social his analysis of the meeting and a veiled threat against Smith.
“The deranged Jack Smith will be DECIIMATED in front of Congress,” he said wrote. “If he were a Republican, his license would be revoked, and much worse! Hopefully the Attorney General will look at what he did, including some of the corrupt and crooked witnesses he planned to use in his case against me. The whole thing was a scam by the Democrats – they should pay a heavy price for what they did to our country!”
In the hearing room, Smith immediately rejected allegations that he was motivated by partisan sentiments and said he would not give in to Trump’s intimidation attempts.
“If I were asked today whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts, I would do so regardless of whether that president is a Democrat or a Republican,” he said. “No one – no one – should be above the law in this country.”
Vermont Democrat Becca Balint noted that Trump used the term “Deranged Jack Smith” 185 times on Truth Social.
“I think … the statements are intended to intimidate me. I won’t be intimidated. I think these statements also serve as a warning to others about what will happen if they stand up,” Smith responded.
“We conducted our work in accordance with department policy,” he continued. “We followed the facts, we followed the law, and this trial has resulted in proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed serious crimes. I’m not going to pretend that didn’t happen just because he threatened me.”
Telephone records
Several Republicans on the committee questioned Smith’s search for phone records of members of Congress related to the election interference case.
The case involved an investigation into Trump’s attempt to block Congress’ certification of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden on January 6, 2021. Smith and other prosecutors sought phone logs leading up to that day’s possible attack on the Capitol.
Republicans on the panel accused Smith of violating the rights of Congress as a co-equal branch of government and were further outraged by Smith and his colleagues’ efforts to keep the records requests secret, noting that only Republican records had been sought.
Jordan said his phone records were among the data seized and described the entire investigation as a partisan attack on Trump.
“Even the Democrats said it was wrong,” he said. “We shouldn’t be surprised. Democrats have been after President Trump for ten years, for a decade, and the country should never forget what they did.”
Smith said the investigation had to do with Trump’s pressure campaign on members of Congress to object to the election results, including appeals to Republican party loyalties. If the president had been a Democrat, he would have sought the Democrats’ records, he said.
He and the Democrats on the panel also noted that the phone records only contained data such as the length, time and date of the phone calls, without providing any information about their content. Such recordings are typical pieces of conspiracy investigations, they said.
Free Dems
Democrats praised and defended Smith throughout the hearing.
“Special Counsel Smith, you followed up on the facts,” said senior Democrat Jamie Raskin of Maryland. “You have followed all applicable laws, ethics rules and DOJ regulations. Your decisions have been reviewed by the Public Integrity Division. You have acted solely on the basis of the facts.”
Raskin contrasted Smith’s approach with that of Trump, who he said sought unprecedented control of the Justice Department to pursue “political revenge and motives of personal revenge.”
Several other Democratic members considered Smith a model public servant.
“I want to thank you for your service,” said Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen.
“I think you are a great American and you have emerged from this situation as someone that people can respect and look up to,” he said. “We should make people want to go into law, go into law, go into government. You are an example of the kind of person they should follow.”
