Jack Smith defends his prosecutions of Trump in closed-door session in Congress : NPR

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Drew Angerer/Getty Photos Former Justice Division particular counsel Jack Smith defended his investigations of President Trump, telling congressional lawmakers Wednesday that he made prosecutorial choices with out regard to Trump's "political affiliation, actions, beliefs, or candidacy within the 2024 presidential election," in response to parts of his opening assertion obtained by NPR.

Testifying behind closed doorways, Smith additionally informed the Home Judiciary Committee that his workforce developed "proof past an inexpensive doubt" that Trump took half in a prison scheme to overturn the 2020 election. Investigators additionally had "highly effective proof" that Trump had willfully retained categorized paperwork and tried to impede justice to cover that he had them.

"The choice to deliver fees towards President Trump was mine, however the foundation for these fees rests completely with President Trump and his actions," Smith informed lawmakers.

Smith appeared in non-public earlier than the Republican-led committee in response to a subpoena after the panel rejected his provide to testify publicly about his investigations.

These probes led to 2 prison indictments towards Trump: one for allegedly making an attempt to overturn the 2020 election, and the opposite for allegedly obstructing justice and mishandling categorized paperwork.

After Trump's 2024 election win, the Justice Division dropped the election case and deserted its attraction effort of a federal choose's dismissal of the categorized paperwork prosecution.

Trump and his allies, together with GOP lawmakers on the panel, have lengthy accused Smith of investigating Trump for political causes — a declare Smith denied.

He additionally stood by his determination to pursue the circumstances.

"If requested whether or not to prosecute a former president based mostly on the identical details at present, I might achieve this no matter whether or not the president was a Republican or a Democrat," he mentioned.

Along with the parts of his opening remarks obtained by NPR, Smith is anticipated to make use of his testimony to attempt to right what he views as mischaracterizations of his work, in response to an individual conversant in the matter who was granted anonymity with the intention to talk about the non-public deposition. That features the particular counsel workplace's acquiring cellphone data of some Republican members of congress.

Regardless of his look going down behind closed doorways, Smith will nonetheless be restricted in what he can say. For instance, he will not be capable to reply questions associated to grand jury supplies, that are nonetheless lined by secrecy guidelines.