The House Judiciary Committee on New Year’s Eve released a transcript and video of its closed-door hearing with Jack Smith, the former special counsel who led the two failed prosecutions of President Donald Trump.

The deposition conducted earlier this month lasted more than eight hours, during which Smith was grilled by lawmakers over the twin criminal investigations into Trump – one probing the mishandling and retention of classified documents and a second inquiry into his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election.

“The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for nine of those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions, as alleged in the 10 indictments returned by grand juries in two different districts,” Smith told the committee.

Republican lawmakers have lambasted the investigations as alleged “weaponization” of the justice system against the president and his allies, particularly criticizing Smith for subpoenaing the phone records of lawmakers who spoke with Trump about the election scheme.

Giving testimony was a significant risk for Smith as Trump has called for him to be prosecuted.

CNN has reached out to Smith for comment.

Here are the highlights of Smith’s testimony:

Smith testified that he was still weighing whether to bring charges against Trump’s alleged co-conspirators in the election subversion case when Trump’s reelection forced his investigation to come to an end.

But Smith said that he would have “welcomed” those alleged co-conspirators, such as Trump attorney John Eastman, to the stand if the case had gone to trial and if Trump’s defense team sought to call them.

Among the Trump associates who sat for interviews with Smith’s team were Boris Epshteyn and attorney Rudy Giuliani, Smith testified.

Asked why he did not follow a common prosecutorial approach of charging lower level accomplices before pursuing the higher levels of a conspiracy, Smith said that he did not need to follow that path to secure witnesses against Trump.

“This was not a case where we needed more witnesses,” Smith testified. “It was a case where we needed to be able to present the case in a streamlined way because there was so much evidence.

Smith was careful to avoid divulging any information that was not already public about Trump’s handling of classified documents in Mar-a-Lago, repeatedly stating that he was barred by a court order from testifying about the contents of the second volume of his report.

Before shutting its doors, Smith’s team compiled a 137-page final report on the probe before Trump was sworn into office for a second term. But the judge who presided over the classified documents case, Aileen Cannon, has prohibited releasing the section on the classified documents case.

The Justice Department told Smith’s legal team that it believed Cannon’s order applied to Smith, his attorney said, which “significantly” limited what he could say publicly.

Smith told the committee that Guiliani, who was one of the uncharged co-conspirators in the election interference case, did not believe his own claims he spread about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

“In fact, when we interviewed him, he disavowed a number of the claims,” Smith said. “He claimed they were mistakes or hyperbole, even the claim about Ruby Freeman, where he, you know, basically destroyed this poor woman’s life by claiming she was a vote scammer.”

Giuliani last year reached an agreement with two Georgia election workers – Freeman and Shaye Moss – that he defamed to settle the nearly $150 million judgment against him, in a deal that allowed him to keep his home and most valuable possessions.

Smith got emotional discussing fired FBI agents and prosecutors

Smith was emotional when he discussed prosecutors or FBI agents who have been fired by the Justice Department for their work on cases related to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot.

“I think what has happened to career prosecutors and career FBI agents is awful. It’s contrary to the rule of law,” Smith said. “It’s contrary to who I think we are as a country.”

Smith apologized for getting emotional when discussing one agent in particular who worked on his case. He was “fired for doing his job,” two weeks after the passing of his wife.

“These are not partisans,” Smith added. “They’re people who have decided they don’t want to make a lot of money. They’re not looking for fame. They just want to do good work, and I think when you lose that culture, you lose a lot.”

This story has been updated with additional details from Smith’s testimony.