Congress releases Jack Smith's testimony about Trump prosecutions

The US Congress has released the transcript of testimony by former Special Counsel Jack Smith, in which he defended his decision to lead two now-defunct criminal investigations into Donald Trump.

The transcript, released on New Year's Eve by the House Judiciary Committee, is 255 pages. It features questions from lawmakers, and Smith's robust defense of the attempts to prosecute Trump for illegally retaining classified documents after leaving office, and his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

Trump pleaded not guilty in both cases, and the prosecutions ended after his re-election.

Since returning to office, Trump has demanded investigations of officials who criminally charged him.

The release also features video of Smith's nearly eight hours of deposition testimony, which took place behind closed doors earlier this month.

"The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions," Smith tells lawmakers early in his deposition.

He argues that his investigation, which was launched under President Joe Biden, "developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power".

He adds that his team "also developed powerful evidence that showed that President Trump willfully retained highly classified documents after he left office in January of 2021, storing them at his social club, including in a ballroom and a bathroom".

He adds that Trump "repeatedly tried to obstruct justice to conceal his continued retention of those documents".

The White House on Wednesday did not immediately respond to the BBC's message seeking comment.

Trump said after his indictment in the classified documents case that it was a "dark day for the United States of America". The case was dismissed by a Florida judge in 2024.

The president has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in connection with the storming of the Capitol on 6 January 2021. He claimed in 2024 that there had been "nothing done wrong at all" and it was a "day of love". Trump pardoned over 1,500 Capitol riot defendants after taking office.

The congressional interview with Smith took place on 17 December.

In 2022, then-US Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith as a special counsel to investigate Trump's attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden.

Before Trump returned to office in January, Smith wrote a report that concluded there was enough evidence to charge Trump in both investigations.

Democrats questioning Smith during the deposition focused on Trump seeking retribution, among other topics. The Trump administration fired Smith and his staff.

"I have no doubt that the President wants to seek retribution against me," Smith said, adding later that the justice department now "wants to seek retribution against anybody who worked on cases against President Trump".

Representative Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat, asked Smith if he thinks Trump instructed House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan to call him for a deposition, to which Smith answered that he did not know.

"I'm here in good faith," he said.

Smith also testified about call records his team had requested for certain members of Congress, a move that outraged some Republican senators.

Smith said such requests are standard, and were critical to finding out how the White House communicated with lawmakers before and on 6 January 2021.

He said his team used the records to establish which members of Trump's inner circle had contacted Republican lawmakers – and which senators the president allegedly tried to reach the day of the Capitol attack.

Smith said the records did not include the content of the calls or texts, but rather "when the call started, when the call stopped ... and who the call is from."

The call records and interviews allowed investigators to piece together how the White House attempted to stop lawmakers from certifying the 2020 election results, Smith said.

"Sometimes the communications were relevant to us to show that people were telling Donald Trump that the things he was saying were not true," Smith told the committee.

After an indictment against Trump in October 2024 outlined his alleged attempts to reach lawmakers, Trump declared it "an effort to resurrect a 'dead' Witch Hunt'" and "merely an attempt to interfere" with the 2024 presidential election.