Former special counsel Jack Smith to testify before Senate on Trump investigations

Former special counsel Jack Smith is set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to defend his two criminal investigations of President Donald Trump amid growing calls from Republicans that Smith himself face prosecution by Trump's Justice Department. 

Smith, who secured indictments against Trump over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and his alleged unlawful retention of classified documents after leaving the White House, has repeatedly said he believes he could prove Trump's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and defended the actions of his investigative team. 

Trump has long denied wrongdoing and neither case ultimately made it before a jury following his 2024 election victory, after which Smith moved to dismiss both indictments based on DOJ policy barring prosecution of a sitting president. 

In an opening statement to the committee obtained by ABC News, Smith is expected to say, "I stand by my decisions as Special Counsel, including my decision to bring charges against President Trump. I made these decisions without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election." 

"If asked whether to prosecute a former President based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether that President was a Republican or a Democrat," his statement says. 

Trump has repeatedly said Smith should face prosecution and he has become a central target of House and Senate Republicans, who have argued his investigations were fueled by political animus and represented a "weaponization" of the Justice Department.

Senate Democrats have cast Republicans' attacks on Smith as misleading and hypocritical in light of what they argue is Trump's blatant weaponization of the department to pursue his political enemies. 

Attorney General Todd Blanche said in July testimony that the department was investigating a criminal referral from Republicans who accused Smith of lying in prior public testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.

In a lengthy rebuttal to Blanche, Smith's attorneys argued the referral was based on "spurious" claims that took his testimony out of context in order to create a pretext for the Justice Department to investigate him. 

"During his testimony, Mr. Smith provided truthful, responsive answers and candidly discussed his work," Smith's attorneys said. "This referral reflects a chilling eagerness to weaponize the justice system by attacking a career, nonpartisan public servant who faithfully and fearlessly performed his duties by following the facts and the law."

In the nearly two years since Smith's office was shuttered following Trump's 2024 election win, nearly every prosecutor and line agent associated with Smith's investigation have either resigned or been fired. 

The Justice Department and FBI have also handed over scores of records from Smith's probes to Republican lawmakers who have released them in piecemeal disclosures alleging, without evidence, that they expose corruption or otherwise unethical behavior by Smith's investigative team. 

In Tuesday's hearing, specifically, Republicans are expected to accuse Smith of unlawfully targeting their phone records during the course of his investigation into Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. 

Smith has repeatedly defended his office's actions with respect to the subpoenaed records, and has said the records were only targeted because they were made in the period where Trump and other White House officials were seeking to disrupt certification of Joe Biden's 2020 election win -- which ultimately led to the violent Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. 

"I didn't choose those members, President Trump did," Smith said in prior testimony regarding lawmakers whose records his office obtained.

Another factor looming over Smith's Tuesday testimony is that he is technically barred from discussing details from his other criminal investigation of Trump's alleged unlawful retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort. 

The Trump-appointed federal judge who previously dismissed the classified documents case, Aileen Cannon, has a standing order that prohibits Smith or any other government official from revealing information that could be part of his final report detailing the probe. An appeals court is currently weighing a lawsuit filed by First Amendment advocacy groups seeking to lift Cannon's order and make the report public. 

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