Parker Molloy: House Republicans released the 255-page transcript of Jack Smith’s closed-door deposition on New Year’s Eve. You know, the day when absolutely nobody is paying attention to the news. The day when political operatives dump things they don’t want people to see.
Funny how that works.
Smith testified before the House Judiciary Committee on December 17th, spending an entire day answering questions about his investigations into Donald Trump. Republicans had been demanding this testimony for months, framing it as part of their “weaponization” investigation. They got what they asked for. And then they released it when America was busy watching the ball drop.
The Independent: During the testimony, Smith offered a confident assessment of the integrity of his work and his team’s chances of securing a conviction, had they been allowed to go to trial. The former special counsel, who resigned shortly before Trump took office, told lawmakers that the Republican was “by a large measure” the person “most responsible” for the alleged conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results and the January 6 Capitol riot that marked its stunning conclusion.
“These crimes were committed for his benefit,” Smith said. “The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him. The other co-conspirators were doing this for his benefit.”
The testimony also highlighted the complicated role Republicans played in the final moments of the 2020 campaign. Smith said much of his office’s conspiracy case rested on evidence from GOP allies, who included senior lawmakers serving in legislatures such as Michigan and Arizona, people who saw firsthand how the Republican was allegedly “preying on the party allegiance of people who supported him.”
“Our case was built on, frankly, Republicans who put their allegiance to the country before the party,” Smith said. That same loyalty didn’t extend back from Trump to his top allies, Smith continued.
Smith also used his testimony to push back on what he said were “false and misleading” GOP claims that he wrongfully tapped their phone records. The former special counsel said that his investigation lawfully obtained toll records, which captured phone numbers and durations of calls but not their content, because the White House was contacting lawmakers throughout January 6 to further its alleged election conspiracy.
“Well, I think who should be accountable for this is Donald Trump. These records are people, in the case of the senators, Donald Trump directed his co-conspirators to call these people to further delay the proceedings. He chose to do that,” Smith said. “If Donald Trump had chosen to call a number of Democratic senators, we would have gotten toll records for Democratic senators.”
Politico: The former special counsel said he never officially decided whether to bring additional charges against the figures he alleged were Trump’s co-conspirators — including attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, John Eastman and Boris Epshteyn.
Though there were few new details in Smith’s testimony, he disclosed that he didn’t pursue interviews with three figures close to Trump: Steve Bannon, Roger Stone and Peter Navarro. The reason, he said, was they were relatively uncooperative with congressional investigators and were unnecessary for his team to discern the details of Trump’s bid to subvert the 2020 election.
Robert B. Hubbell on Substack: The judgment of history will be that Trump committed the crimes included in the two indictments obtained by Smith and that a fair jury would have convicted Trump on all counts. Historians will adjudge Chief Justice John Roberts to be complicit in the perversion of justice that allowed Trump to avoid liability for his crimes.
The GOP-controlled House Judiciary Committee examined Smith under oath as part of Trump’s retribution campaign. They did so in a non-public proceeding, hoping to blunt the strength and clarity of Jack Smith’s testimony. They undoubtedly now regret their decision. They proceed further against Smith at their peril.
