WASHINGTON: Former US Special Counsel Jack Smith, who unsuccessfully prosecuted President Donald Trump, told a House of Representatives panel on Thursday that Trump was “looking for ways to stay in power” following his defeat in the 2020 election as he confronted Republican criticisms of his investigation.
Smith was fielding questions before the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee about his two criminal cases, which he dropped after Trump won the 2024 presidential election.
One case accused Trump of conspiring to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election, while the other accused him of unlawfully holding onto classified documents. The hearing marks the first time the American public will hear at length from Smith, whose historic prosecutions dominated Trump’s years out of power and helped fuel the Republican president’s quest for retribution since returning to office.
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“President Trump was charged because the evidence established that he willfully broke the very laws that he took an oath to uphold,” Smith told the House panel. “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 Democrat or a Republican.”
