Overview
- In prepared remarks, Smith says the evidence showed President Trump willfully broke laws and that his team developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt, adding he would have brought the same charges regardless of party.
- Republicans led by Chairman Jim Jordan challenge Smith over alleged politicization and investigative tactics, including subpoenas for lawmakers’ phone and location records and payments to an FBI confidential source.
- Smith says requests for lawmakers’ toll records were driven by Trump’s contacts around Jan. 6, defending the records as necessary to examine efforts to pressure Congress on certification of the 2020 results.
- Judge Aileen Cannon has sealed the second volume of Smith’s report on the classified-documents case, and Trump this week moved to block its release, as grand-jury secrecy further limits Smith’s public answers.
- Smith notes both federal cases were dropped after Trump’s 2024 victory under DOJ policy barring prosecution of a sitting president, and he denounces DOJ firings of team members and an ongoing watchdog inquiry into him.