(Washington) Former special prosecutor Jack Smith testifies Wednesday behind closed doors before a US Congressional committee dominated by Republicans about his conduct in the two federal criminal proceedings that he had initiated against Donald Trump before his election last year.
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Jack Smith has for several years been one of the main targets of the ire of Donald Trump, who sees in him the incarnation of an “instrumentalization” of justice against him under his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.
The former special prosecutor had requested a public hearing by the House of Representatives’ Judicial Affairs Committee, chaired by Republican Jim Jordan, but his request was rejected.
He did not wish to speak to the press on Wednesday when he arrived for the hearing.
His lawyer, Lanny Breuer, said that by testifying he showed “tremendous courage in light of the incredible and unprecedented campaign of retaliation waged against him by this administration and this White House.”
“Jack Smith, a career prosecutor, conducted this investigation based on the facts and the law, and nothing else,” Mr.e Breuer to journalists.
Appointed special prosecutor in 2022, Jack Smith had initiated two federal proceedings against Donald Trump, for illegal attempts to reverse the results of the 2020 election, lost to Joe Biden, and for withholding classified documents after his departure from the White House.
After the billionaire won the November 2024 presidential election, he had to drop these two cases, in accordance with the Justice Department’s practice of not prosecuting a sitting president.
Jack Smith, however, said in January 2025, in his final report on the electoral interference case in 2020, convinced that he would have succeeded in convicting Donald Trump, “without (his) election”.
Since his return to power, the Republican has continued to encourage the Department of Justice to launch proceedings against Jack Smith and those he considers to be personal enemies.
However, the indictments of two targets of his vindictiveness, former FBI director James Comey and New York State Attorney General Letitia James, were overturned in November by a federal judge.
This considered that the appointment of Lindsey Halligan, the prosecutor chosen by Donald Trump who had initiated these proceedings, was invalid.
