Representative Lance Gooden, a Republican from Texas, asks about Smith's swearing in as special counsel.

Smith says he was sworn in and signed papers when he was appointed to the special counsel position, but says he has no recollection of who swore him in the first time.

Gooden asks why Smith re-swore his oath a second time at a later date. Smith says he does not know why he was asked to sign the oath again.

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

We’re now a few hours into Smith answering lawmakers’ questions.

It’s clear, like so much in Washington, that today’s hearing will continue to be a bipartisan matter.

Republicans have chastised Smith’s actions and labelled them as a partisan attack on Trump. They have also focused on Smith's investigation for subpoenas of certain Republican lawmakers phone records, and calling it "spying".

Democrats in their line of questioning have targeted Trump's alleged wrongdoing and his actions surrounding the events of the 6 January riot on the US Capitol. They’ve applauded Smith and his investigation.

Smith says his review of the case came to a conclusion beyond reasonable doubt.

He says his team was ready to go to trial and says he felt confident doing so.

Smith says no one in the Biden administration influenced his investigation adding that he dropped the case because of Justice Department policy.

"There had not been a case of this nature ever" where they involved an elected president.

He says pursuant to department policy the cases had to be dismissed. This is because, according to the office of legal counsel, you cannot bring a charge against a sitting president.

Image source, Reuters

In concurrence with Donald Trump's belief that he was targeted by the alleged "weaponisation" of the Department of Justice, his allies in the House of Representatives believe that there was a "Biden DOJ Enemies List" which was displayed at today's hearing when Republican congressman Darrell Issa of California spoke.

The list includes 10 Republican senators and four members of the House including current Judiciary committee chair Jim Jordan, who is presiding over Smith's appearance.

Smith is answering questions from Representative Zoe Lofgren from California about the type of witnesses that Smith's investigation would have relied on for the alleged 2020 election interference case.

He is also asked about Trump's state of mind around the period when he lost the 2020 election.

"Our investigation revealed that Donald Trump was not looking for honest answers about whether there was fraud in the election," Smith says.

"He was looking for ways to stay in power," adding that Trump listened to people with "fantastical" ideas about holding onto power and he would "latch onto those".

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

We saw our first point of conflict.

As Republican Darrell Issa was questioning Smith, he spoke over his allotted time.

Jordan, the chairman of the committee, did not cut Issa off very forcefully.

Democrats immediately clamoured that a Republican was getting more than the allocated five minutes.

It was the first sign of a tussle so far. We’re expecting more of that to come.

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

On a day when the special counsel inquiry into Donald Trump’s efforts to challenge the 2020 presidential election has taken centre stage on Capitol Hill, the House of Representatives just took a swipe at some of the Republican senators who were caught up in that investigation.

The chamber voted unanimously to reverse a Senate-backed measure Congress passed last year that would have allowed nine Republican senators who had their phone calling records subpoenaed by Jack Smith’s team – including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin - to sue the federal government for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Smith is being questioned about those subpoenas today. He has explained they were to document contacts those senators had with Trump and other White House officials as part of their efforts to block congressional certification of Joe Biden’s election victory.

Members of the House at the time had objected to the provision, calling it a sweetheart deal at taxpayers’ expense, but they were unable to stop it from becoming law because it had been attached to the spending legislation that ended last year’s record government shutdown.

An earlier House repeal effort was discarded by the Senate. Today, however, the chamber unanimously appended it to government funding legislation that the Senate is likely to vote on – and approve - next week.

Turnabout, it appears, is fair play.

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Smith has returned to the crowded Capitol Hill room where his hearing is ongoing.

Since we’ve only had questions from a handful, dozens of lawmakers are sitting awaiting their turn.

The public seating area remains filled to the brim and former Capitol Police officers remain seated in the front row. They’re attentively looking at Smith as he testifies.

Each time, Smith is asked a question he pauses, writes something on his notepad and then speaks.

He occasionally shakes his feet as he answers questions.

Representative Nadler begins his questioning by listing Trump's various attacks against Smith and accusations the former special counsel favours left wing causes.

Smith responds by detailing his career as a federal prosecutor, where he has been involved in multiple cases that both Republicans and Democrats politicians have been investigated and charged.

"The standard in all of those cases was the same: follow the facts and the law," he says. "Party affiliation played no role in my investigations."

Image source, Reuters

Jack Smith and committee members have re-entered the room and the testimony is resuming.

Next to question the former special counsel is Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from New York.

Follow along with us or watch live at the link above.

Image source, Reuters

One issue that has infuriated some Republicans is Smith's investigation pulling phone records related to certain lawmakers. He has previously said the records did not include content of the calls or texts, but logged when a call started and stopped, and who received it.

Speaking at the hearing earlier today, Smith said "it was relevant to get toll records to understand the scope of that conspiracy, who they were seeking to coerce, who they were seeking, to influence who was seeking to help them".

"In conducting a criminal investigation, securing non content toll records, as you described, is a common practice in almost any complex investigation," he explained.

At a previous hearing held behind closed doors, Smith said the call records and interviews allowed investigators to piece together how the White House attempted to stop lawmakers from certifying the 2020 election results.

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

It’s been 30 minutes since the Judiciary Committee took their recess to attend votes on the floor of the House.

Photographers are standing around waiting and seats in the gallery are open as people have left for to grab a snack and use the restroom.

It takes quite a chunk of time just to get to the building where votes are happening. So we may be waiting a while.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Donald Trump is still not back in Washington DC - but he will almost certainly be hearing updates from today's hearing from his team.

Even before returning to the White House last January, Trump has made Jack Smith a favourite target for both personal and professional attacks, repeatedly referring to him as "deranged", "sick" or "a lunatic".

For Trump, Smith is - perhaps more than anyone else - the personification of a Justice Department he believes was "weaponised" against him by his political opponents during the Biden administration.

As special counsel , Smith took the lead in investigating Trump's role in alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, as well as his handling of classified documents.

In both cases, Trump continues to see no wrongdoing on his part.

In the case of the election and the 6 January riot, it's something that he often mentions multiple times each week, insisting that he won and that nothing he did contributed to what occurred at the US Capitol. The US president is not one to forgive or forget perceived slights.

We haven't heard on the topic from Trump today, but we may well see him reaction Truth Social or to reporters traveling with him on the way back from Davos this afternoon.

Chairman Jim Jordan has called a recess so members can go and vote in the US House on a separate matter.

Jack Smith's testimony will resume once voting has concluded.

Stay with us.

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on this committee, is now questioning Smith.

He asks about the first amendment defence that many Republicans have used to defend Trump’s actions.

"The first amendment does not protect speech that facilitates a crime," Smith replies. "Speech that is used to facilitate a crime, a fraud crime in particular, is not protected under the first amendment."

Raskin then asks Smith what he thinks of the political attacks against the Justice Department.

Smith says the actions are "not right".

The hearing is now open to questions from House members and they have five minutes each.

The first question is from Kevin Kiley, a Republican from California. Smith is asked why he thought he was appointed by then Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022.

"I was to conduct an independent investigation and come to my own conclusions," Smith says in response.

Asked further if he had any regrets about the investigation that followed, he says it would be "not expressing enough appreciation for my staff who worked so hard".

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Smith just wrapped up his opening statement.

He said he stands by his decision to investigate Trumps wrongdoing and defends the team he worked with.

"My team exercised independent judgment and acted in the highest traditions of the Justice Department in the face of threats to our safety and unfounded attacks on our character and integrity," he says.

"In my opinion, these people are the best of public servants, our country owes them a debt of gratitude, and we are all less safe because many of these experienced and dedicated law enforcement officials have been fired."

Watch his remarks below:

As expected, Smith is defending his investigations into Trump.

He is now laying out the cases against Trump which he prosecuted but dropped after Trump's re-election.

Referring to the 2020 election interference case, the former special counsel says Trump "engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power".

On the separate classified documents case, Smith says Trump "repeatedly tried to obstruct justice to conceal his continued retention of those documents".

Image source, Reuters

He says stands his decision to bring the charges against Trump.

"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 Republican or a Democrat."

"Our investigation developed proved beyond reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity," he says.

Jack Smith is beginning his testimony and opens by defending his personal record.

"I love my country and believe deeply in the core principles on which it was founded," he says. "I have prosecuted public corruption and election crimes across the United States, and I have prosecuted war crimes abroad. I am not a politician, and I have no partisan loyalties."

Reminder: You can watch live at the link above.

Image source, Reuters

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

As his Republican colleague Jim Jordan was speaking, Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, was shaking his head and chuckling at some of Jordan’s assertions.

Raskin begins by thanking Smith and noting he’s the only special counsel who has not yet had the opportunity to testify publicly about their investigation.

He says Smith has dedicated his life to the “rule of life” and “public service”.

Raskin remarks largely centre around the events of 6 January 2021 and Trump’s public denial that he lost the 2020 election.

Smith, the ranking member says, is focused on the facts of Trump’s actions and not the politics.

Image source, Reuters