Jack Smith’s closed-door testimony released by House Republicans after Judiciary Committee deposition

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2. In any World where the rule of law was respected Trump would be in a prison cell and someone else would be President.

3. Jack Smith, the former Special Counsel, sat for a closed-door deposition with the House Judiciary Committee. The bulk of the questioning wasn’t about new facts in the Trump cases but about how Smith and DOJ operated, especially when Congress itself became part of the investigative trail.

   Smith repeatedly said he believed his office had proof beyond a reasonable doubt in both the election and classified documents cases. He acknowledged that juries decide guilt, but made clear he stood by the strength of the evidence and the language of his report. He denied acting with political motives and said he would have brought the same cases regardless of party.

   The most contentious issue was DOJ’s use of toll record subpoenas for Members of Congress. Smith confirmed:
   • DOJ subpoenaed phone metadata (numbers, timing, duration – not content).
   • He personally approved those subpoenas.
   • DOJ obtained nondisclosure orders, meaning Members were not told and could not challenge the subpoenas at the time.
   • Judges who approved the secrecy orders were not told the records belonged to Members of Congress.

   Smith said his office consulted DOJ’s Public Integrity Section about Speech or Debate Clause concerns and relied on internal DOJ expertise. He admitted the written analysis could have been more detailed and acknowledged DOJ later tightened or clarified its policies after these events.

   Republicans argued this violated separation of powers and effectively sidestepped congressional constitutional protections. Democrats argued DOJ was using standard investigative tools and that Members of Congress cannot be immune from lawful investigations.

   No one proved illegality. Smith made no apologies and no walk-backs. The committee didn’t uncover new facts about Trump’s conduct. What they did create is a clear record of how DOJ secretly collected congressional metadata and a sharp, unresolved dispute over whether that should ever be allowed.

   Bottom line: this was less a smoking gun and more a constitutional standoff between Congress and DOJ over power, secrecy, and oversight.

4. Read the article.

   “*“There is no historical analog for what President Trump did in this case. As we said in the indictment, he was free to say that he thought he won the election,” Smith said. “He was even free to say falsely that he won the election. But what he was not free to do was violate federal law and use knowing — knowingly false statements about election fraud to target a lawful government function.”*”

   He should have been indicted. Not just for the statement above but for the many irregularities and falsehoods and… just read the article.

   Kudos to Jack Smith.
   He was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t.

   What a shitshow America has become.

5. He should be in prison.

6. Why did they release this?

7. It’s very important to note that Smith wanted to testify publicly but Republicans blocked that and insisted he testify in secret. Because Republicans wanted to be able to lie about the secret testimony and hide the testimony from the public.

   Unfortunately, MAGA love to be lied to and become infuriated when the facts about Trump’s corruption see the light of day.

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