Jack Smith warns of leaving 'Trump's crimes' unpunished, says Biden did not interfere in his work

Jack Smith, former special counsel to the US Justice Department, told a congressional committee on Wednesday that he never discussed the cases he was pursuing against US President Donald Trump with his predecessor Joe Biden. According to the transcript of a deposition released on Wednesday, Smith insisted that he had ‘proof beyond a reasonable doubt’ in cases against the current American president.

In his closed-door testimony to the US House Judiciary Committee earlier this month, Smith defended the charges he brought against Trump for allegedly possessing classified documents and attempting to overturn the 2020 election. He went on to warn of the consequences of allowing election meddling to go “unpunished”.

“Theoretically, what happens if there is election interference and the people who are responsible for that are not held accountable?” Democratic congresswoman Pramila Jayapal asked. “It becomes the new norm, and that becomes how we … conduct elections,” Smith replied, according to the transcript.

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“And so the toll on our democracy, if you had to describe that, what would that be?” the congresswoman asked. “Catastrophic,” Smith said. It is pertinent to note that Trump and his Republican allies have alleged that the former special counsel was the key figure in the Justice Department that was “weaponised” by Biden against the Republican leader.

What Smith has to say

It is important to note that the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee earlier this year heard testimony from one of Smith’s top deputies. Months later, the committee subpoenaed the former special counsel for private testimony. Smith had offered to voluntarily testify in public, as special counsels typically do.

During the questioning from Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman, Smith said that he was operating without any interference from then US Attorney General Merrick Garland or any top officials from the Justice Department. “Did President Biden ever give you any instructions about what you should or should not do related to these investigations?” Goldman asked. “No,” Smith replied, later specifying he had not spoken to Biden about his cases in any way.

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Smith was appointed to his former role in 2022, and soon he brought two federal cases against Trump, who also faced state-level charges of election interference in Georgia and falsifying business records in New York. While the Republican firebrand was convicted of 34 felonies in a Manhattan case, neither of Trump’s federal indictments went to trial before he returned to office following the 2024 election.

After Trump’s return to the White House, Smith, in line with the Justice Department, dropped the charges. After Trump won the polls, Smith authored a report on his prosecutions, and the portion covering the election interference case was released prior to Biden leaving office.

In over eight hours of testimony, Smith insisted that he had no political motivations in indicting Trump, and said he believed “we had proof beyond a reasonable doubt in both cases” that he brought. “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,” he said in his opening statement. Smith later told an unnamed committee staffer he would have indicted Biden or Barack Obama over similar evidence.

Trump has repeatedly railed against Smith, and in testimony, the former special counsel acknowledged the risk that the president could come after him. “I do not doubt that the president wants to seek retribution against me,” Smith averred.