Jack Smith to testify next week at a public House Judiciary Committee hearing

Jack Smith, former special counsel, appears for a closed-door deposition before the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Dec.17, 2025.(Getty Images)

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Smith investigated Trump and brought two indictments against him over the2020 electionand alleged retention of classified documents.Trump pleaded not guilty and aggressively fought the charges, and Smith dropped both cases when Trump won the 2024 election, citing a Department of Justice policy that discourages prosecuting sitting presidents.

In a public hearing, House lawmakers will be able to question Smith in five-minute increments, whereas in the deposition, each party questioned Smith in one-hour sessions.Politicofirst reported that Smith would appear for a hearing sometime this month.

Smith gave little new information during his initial meeting with the committee and defended his work.

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“I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election,” Smith said, according to a transcript of the deposition.“We took actions based on what the facts, and the law required, the very lesson I learned early in my career as a prosecutor.”

JACK SMITH DEFENDS SUBPOENAING REPUBLICANS’ PHONE RECORDS: ‘ENTIRELY PROPER’

Rep.Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., looks on during a hearing with the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Sept.3, 2025 in Washington, D.C.(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Smithsaid he followed DOJ policy when his team made the controversial decision to subpoena numerous Republican senators’ and House members’ phone records as part of his 2020 election probe.Smith noted the subpoenas sought a narrow set of data.

“If Donald Trump had chosen to call a number of Democratic senators [to delay the election certification proceedings], we would have gotten toll records for Democratic senators.So responsibility for why these records, why we collected them, that’s — that lies with Donald Trump,” Smith said.

The Republicans have said the subpoenas were unconstitutional violations of the speech or debate clause, and they have broadly said the Biden DOJ abused its authority by bringing, in their view, politicized criminal charges against a former president and presidential candidate.

Trump, who has long decried Smith as a “thug” and said he belongs in jail, has said he welcomes Smith at a public hearing.

President Donald Trump during a presentation in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Dec.15, 2025.(Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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