Former Special Counsel Jack Smith appeared on Capitol Hill on Wednesday for closed-door testimony before the House Judiciary Committee as Republicans press an investigation into what they argue were politically driven prosecutions of President Donald Trump.
Smith declined to answer questions as he arrived for the deposition. Fox News congressional reporter Bill Melugin attempted to question him outside the Capitol.
“Do you have any regrets about the way your prosecutions with the president were handled? What do you plan to tell the committee?” Melugin asked.
Smith ignored the question and others from reporters. At one point, a voice could be heard calling out, “How about you respond, Jack!”
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Inside the hearing, Smith defended his handling of the cases against Trump.
“The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions, as alleged in the indictments returned by grand juries in two different districts,” Smith said, according to CNN.
Smith was appointed special counsel in 2022 by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, just one day after Trump announced his bid for the 2024 presidential election. Months later, in August 2022, federal agents executed a court-authorized search at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
In June 2023, Smith charged Donald Trump in Miami with 37 federal counts tied to the handling of presidential records at Mar-a-Lago, which was secured by the Secret Service. The indictment included 31 counts under the Espionage Act for willful retention of national defense information, along with six additional process-related charges tied to communications with Trump’s attorney.
Smith also brought a separate case in Washington, D.C., charging Trump with four counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
Both cases were later dismissed. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon tossed the classified documents case over concerns involving the special counsel’s appointment and funding. The D.C. case was dismissed after Trump won the 2024 presidential election.
In October, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., along with several Republican senators and one House member, sent a formal letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi referring Smith to the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility and two state bar associations. The letter accused Smith of professional misconduct that could warrant disciplinary action.
“As part of Jack Smith’s weaponized witch hunt, the Biden DOJ issued subpoenas to several telecommunications companies in 2023 regarding our cell phone records, gaining access to the time, recipient, duration, and location of calls placed on our devices from January 4, 2021, to January 7, 2021,” the letter stated. “We have yet to learn of any legal predicate for the Biden Department of Justice issuing subpoenas to obtain these cell phone records.”
The referral followed reports that Smith’s office obtained phone metadata from Republican lawmakers using a process known as toll analysis, which collects call logs and related data. Lawmakers said they were not notified and did not consent to the collection.
Blackburn was joined by Sens. Lindsey Graham, Tommy Tuberville, Dan Sullivan, Ron Johnson, Bill Hagerty, Josh Hawley and Cynthia Lummis, along with Rep. Mike Kelly. The group is seeking investigations by the DOJ and disciplinary reviews by the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility and the New York Attorney Grievance Committee, where Smith is licensed to practice law.
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