Former special counsel Jack Smith spoke with lawmakers behind closed doors in December. That testimony is now public.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
On New Year’s Eve, the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee released footage of closed-door testimony from the man at the center of the Justice Department’s investigations into President Trump. Former Special Counsel Jack Smith led two probes – one focused on Trump’s attempt to overthrow the 2020 election results, which culminated in the January 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol, the second on Trump’s handling of classified documents after leaving the White House and his alleged refusal to turn them back over to the government.
The Department of Justice dropped both cases once Trump won another term, and Smith resigned in the final weeks of President Biden’s tenure. But in the newly released footage, Smith stood by his work and defended his investigations. NPR reporter Luke garrett has been combing through the nearly 300 pages of testimony and joins me now to talk it through. Hey, Luke.
LUKE GARRETT, BYLINE: Hello, Scott.
DETROW: So, Luke, in 2024, these cases were an enormous news story. I hosted an entire podcast about them. And now, a year into Trump’s second term, they really feel like ancient history. So let’s start with this.Remind us why Jack Smith found himself on Capitol Hill to begin with.
GARRETT: Right. So his cases are dead in Trump’s DOJ. But back in October, the Senate Judiciary Committee released records showing that Smith’s team analyzed the phone records of some GOP lawmakers back in 2021.This caused outrage among Republicans, many of whom claimed this was further proof that the Biden management used the DOJ to attack the GOP and Trump for political purposes. so in early December, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan, subpoenaed Smith to testify behind closed doors. Now, Jordan did this even though Smith offered to do a public hearing on capitol Hill. Ultimately, Smith testified privately on december 17, and now we have the transcripts.
DETROW: So you’ve been reading them all, you’ve been watching the video. What have you learned?
GARRETT: That’s right.So a few things. But to start, it’s certainly worth noting here how rare it is indeed to hear directly from Smith. He,you know,really didn’t give a ton of public statements or talk to the press. So it’s notable that he gave a full-throated defense of his first case against Trump for attempting to overturn the 2020 election.