WASHINGTON ― Republicans in Congress have rejected Jack Smith’s offer to testify in public, demanding instead that he come to Capitol Hill later this month for a closed-door deposition.
Smith led the two prosecutions of President Donald Trump for hoarding classified documents after he left office and for trying to overthrow the 2020 election result. Trump has called Smith a criminal who should be in prison.
The deposition is part of Republicans’ broader effort to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters and to cast every effort to hold Trump accountable as a witch hunt.
A spokesman for House Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said Smith’s deposition would happen behind closed doors. In most such depositions, committees release a transcript days or weeks later.
Smith’s attorneys had previously offered for him to testify in public.
