'Donald Trump is the person who caused Jan. 6,' former special counsel Jack Smith tells House panel

[ad_1] Former particular counsel Jack Smith, testifying Thursday earlier than the GOP-led Home Judiciary Committee, was unequivocal about who induced the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.

"Our investigation revealed that Donald Trump is the one who induced Jan. 6, that it was foreseeable to him and that he sought to take advantage of the violence," Smith testified. "We adopted the details and we adopted the legislation -- the place that led us was to an indictment of an unprecedented legal scheme to dam the peaceable switch of energy."

Smith, who led investigations into Trump's alleged interference within the 2020 election and alleged mishandling of categorized paperwork, testified publicly for first time about his probes.

Trump pleaded not responsible to all costs in each circumstances, earlier than each circumstances had been dropped following Trump's reelection because of the Justice Division's long-standing coverage barring the prosecution of a sitting president.

The previous particular counsel mentioned that partisan politics didn't play a job in his resolution to cost Trump in his two investigations.

"A few of the strongest witnesses had been witnesses who, in actual fact, had been fellow Republicans who had voted for Donald Trump, who had campaigned for him and, who needed him to win the election. These included state officers, individuals who labored on his marketing campaign and advisors," Smith mentioned of his election interference probe.

In looking for to problem the outcomes of the 2020 election, Trump was "on the lookout for methods to remain in energy," Smith testified.

Former particular counsel Jack Smith, testifies earlier than the Home Judiciary Committee about his investigations into President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 22, 2026.

Saul Loeb/AFP by way of Getty Photos

Trump was not "was not on the lookout for trustworthy solutions about whether or not there was fraud within the election. He was on the lookout for methods to remain in energy. And when individuals instructed him, issues that conflicted with him endurance, he rejected them or he selected not even to contact individuals like that," Smith instructed committee members.

Smith instructed legislators that he wouldn't be intimated by President Trump's statements calling for him to be investigated.

"The statements are supposed to intimidate me. I cannot be intimidated. I believe these statements are additionally made, as a warning to others what is going to occur in the event that they get up," Smith mentioned. "I am not going to be intimidated. We did our work pursuant to Division coverage. We adopted the details, and we observe the legislation."

Requested concerning the sweeping pardons Trump granted those that had been charged with attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, Smith mentioned, "I don't perceive why you'd mass pardon individuals who assaulted law enforcement officials. I do not get it. I by no means will."

Republican Rep. Troy Nehls, who's retiring from the Home, addressed the Capitol Cops who had been within the chamber.

"I want to rapidly handle the law enforcement officials from Jan. 6, " Nehls mentioned. "I am a member of the brand new choose committee to truly study, really study what occurred that day, and I can let you know gents that the fault doesn't lie with Donald Trump. It lies with ... the U.S. Capitol management group. We all know, we all know they'd the intelligence, and there was going to be a excessive propensity for violence."

Founding father of the Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes listens to the testimony of former Justice Division particular counsel Jack Smith earlier than the Home Judiciary Committee, Jan. 22, 2026 on the Capitol in Washington.

Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Beneath questioning from Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Smith mentioned the witnesses his group had interviewed in his election interference probe.

"There have been witnesses who I felt could be very sturdy witnesses, together with, for instance, the secretary of state in Georgia who instructed Donald Trump the reality, instructed him issues that he didn't wish to hear and put him on discover that what he was saying was false," Smith mentioned. "And I consider that witnesses of that nature, witnesses who're prepared to inform the reality, even when it is going to impose a value on them of their lives -- my expertise as a prosecutor over 30 years is that witnesses like which can be very credible, and that jurors are likely to consider witnesses like that, as a result of they pay a value for telling the reality."

Smith mentioned that he obtained the cellphone toll information for some members of Congress as a result of his workplace was investigating the conspiracy to cease the peaceable switch of energy.

"We needed to conduct an intensive investigation of the issues, that had been assigned to me, together with makes an attempt to intervene with the lawful switch of energy. The conspiracy that we had been investigating, it was related to get toll information, to grasp the scope of that conspiracy, who they had been looking for to coerce, who they had been looking for to affect, who was looking for to assist them," Smith mentioned, arguing that it was a standard piece of an investigation.

In a back-and-forth with Republican Rep. Darryl Issa, Smith mentioned he did not goal then-President Joe Biden's political enemies.

"Perhaps they don't seem to be your political enemies, however they positive as hell had been Joe Biden's political enemies, weren't they? They had been Harris' political enemies. They had been the enemies of the president and also you had been their arm, weren't you?" Issa requested.

"No," Smith mentioned. "My workplace did not spy on anybody."

He mentioned that the choice to carry costs towards Trump was solely his resolution and that he was not pressured by any Biden official.

"President Trump was charged as a result of the proof established that he willfully broke the legislation, the very legal guidelines he took an oath to uphold," Smith mentioned. "Grand juries in two separate districts reached this conclusion primarily based on his actions as alleged within the indictments they returned."

In his introductory remarks, Smith additionally mentioned the president illegally stored categorized paperwork at his Mar-a-Lago property.

"After leaving workplace in January of '21, President Trump illegally stored categorized paperwork at his Mar-a-Lago Social Membership and repeatedly tried to hinder justice to hide his continued retention of these paperwork. Extremely delicate nationwide safety info withheld in a ballroom and a rest room," Smith mentioned.

Former particular counsel Jack Smith, testifies earlier than the Home Judiciary Committee about his investigations into President Donald Trump, within the Rayburn Home Workplace Constructing on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 22, 2026.

Saul Loeb/AFP by way of Getty Photos

Smith mentioned that the details and the legislation supported a prosecution, and that he made choices not primarily based on politics, however the details and the legislation.

"Our investigation developed proof past an affordable doubt that President Trump engaged in legal exercise. If requested whether or not to prosecute a former president primarily based on the identical details as we speak, I might achieve this no matter whether or not that president was a Democrat or a Republican," he mentioned.

"Nobody, nobody must be above the legislation on this nation, and the legislation required that he be held to account. So that's what I did," Smith mentioned. "To have finished in any other case on the details of those circumstances, would have been to shirk my duties as a prosecutor and as a public servant, of which I had no intention of doing."

He additionally criticized what he mentioned was the retribution carried out by the president and his allies towards brokers and prosecutors who investigated the circumstances.

"My concern is that we've seen the rule of legislation perform in our nation for therefore lengthy that many people have come to take it as a right," he mentioned. "The rule of legislation just isn't self-executing. It is determined by our collective dedication to use it. It requires devoted service on behalf of others, particularly when that service is troublesome and comes with prices. Our willingness to pay these prices is what check and defines our dedication to the rule of legislation and to this excellent nation."

In his opening assertion, Committee Chairman Jim Jordan blasted Smith for what he known as a partisan investigation into President Trump and different Republicans.

"Democrats have been going after President Trump for ten years, for a decade, and the nation ought to by no means, ever neglect what they did," Jordan mentioned.

Jamie Raskin, the committee's rating Democrat, mentioned that Smith proved that Trump "engaged in a legal scheme to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 election and to stop the lawful switch of energy."

Former Particular Counsel Jack Smith arrives to testify earlier than a Home Judiciary Committee listening to about his legal investigation President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 22, 2026.

Kylie Cooper/Reuters

"Particular counsel Smith, you pursued the details. You adopted each relevant legislation, ethics rule and DOJ regulation. Your choices had been reviewed by the Public Integrity part. You acted primarily based solely on the details -- the other of Donald Trump," Raskin mentioned.

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell mentioned that Republicans on the dais "are a joke."

"They're fallacious. Historical past will harshly choose them," he mentioned.

Smith's look Thursday marked his second time earlier than the committee, after he appeared behind closed doorways in December. It's customary for former particular counsels to seem earlier than Congress publicly to debate their findings.

Former Justice Division particular counsel Jack Smith stands earlier than the Home Judiciary Committee earlier than a listening to about his investigations into President Donald Trump, Jan. 22, 2026 on the Capitol in Washington.

Mark Schiefelbein/AP

In his closed-door testimony, Smith defended his resolution to twice carry costs towards Trump -- telling lawmakers his group "had proof past cheap doubt in each circumstances" that Trump was responsible of the fees within the 2020 election interference and categorized paperwork circumstances, in accordance with a transcript of the listening to.

And Smith fervently denied that there was any political affect behind his resolution -- opposite to allegations of Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, who requested the testimony -- corresponding to stress from then-President Joe Biden or then-Legal professional Basic Merrick Garland, the transcripts reveals.

"No," Smith responded repeatedly to these allegations, in accordance with the transcript.

Simply over an hour earlier than his testimony on Dec. 17, the Division of Justice despatched an electronic mail to Smith's attorneys stopping him from discussing the categorized paperwork case, in accordance with the 255-page transcript of the deposition, launched final 12 months by the Judiciary Committee together with a video of the listening to.

<img alt="PHOTO: In this Dec. 17, 2025, file photo, former Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith departs at the end of a Republican-led deposition before the House Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C." class="hsDdd NDJZt sJeUN IJwXl vBqtr KrDt itslR SjwtZ hakZw HlUVI " data-testid="prism-image" draggable="false" loading="lazy" src="https://i.abcnewsfe.com/a/e5052fee-8c38-432c-9b64-3aca2ff0a935/jack-smith-ap-jt-260121_1769029823144_hpMain.jpg"/> On this Dec. 17, 2025, file picture, former Division of Justice Particular Counsel Jack Smith departs on the finish of a Republican-led deposition earlier than the Home Judiciary Committee as a part of its oversight into DOJ investigations into President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP, FILE

This meant Smith was unable to reply most questions on that case and the deposition -- supposed to ask questions concerning the alleged weaponization of the DOJ towards Trump and his allies -- primarily targeted on the 2020 election case as a substitute.

His group additionally mentioned Smith will adjust to U.S. District Choose Aileen Cannon's order that blocked the discharge of the second quantity of his report coping with the categorized paperwork case.

Smith's counsel mentioned the DOJ additionally refused to ship a lawyer to advise Smith on whether or not his statements had been in keeping with their willpower of what he may or couldn't say relating to the circumstances, in accordance with the deposition. Smith did say, nonetheless, that Trump "tried to hinder justice" within the categorized paperwork investigation "to hide his continued retention of these paperwork.