After appearing in a closed-door deposition with the House Judiciary Committee earlier this week, Jack Smith, the former special counsel who led the criminal cases against President Donald Trump, still wants the chance to defend his work in a public hearing – and defend himself against continued Republican attacks.
Attorneys for Smith are pressing for their client to be allowed to testify in an open forum in a new letter to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, obtained first by POLITICO.
“[We] reiterate our request for an open and public hearing,” Smith’s lawyers, Lanny Breuer and Peter Koski, wrote to Jordan. “During the investigation of President Trump, Mr. Smith steadfastly followed Justice Department policies, observed all legal requirements, and took actions based on the facts and the law. He stands by his decisions.”
Breuer and Koski also requested that the videotape of Smith’s testimony be released in full so that he can speak to the public directly “rather than through second-hand accounts.”
Smith’s deposition spanned more than eight hours Wednesday, as he spoke to House Judiciary members under oath and stood by his decisions to levy criminal charges against the then-former president for allegedly mishandling classified documents and attempting to subvert the results of the 2020 election.
According to portions of his statement shared with POLITICO, Smith argued the evidence in his office’s possession would have provided proof of the President’s criminal behavior “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
He never got to fully present that evidence, as Smith was forced to drop both his cases as a result of Justice Department policy that prevents prosecuting the current occupant of the White House. But Trump and his allies have continued to paint Smith as a villainous leader in the campaign to politicize the Biden-era Justice Department.
House and Senate Republicans have vowed to investigate Smith and his office’s work in a crusade that has only become more intense in the wake of revelations that Smith requested phone data for Republican members of Congress as part of his election subversion probe.
Jordan, who has separately already referred Smith’s senior assistant special counsel for criminal prosecution for failing to cooperate with his investigation, said he has not ruled out allowing the Biden era special counsel to testify in an open forum.
There are relatively few details about Smith’s remarks and the exchanges with lawmakers, beyond the portions of his statements shared with reporters. Members of the Judiciary Committee leaving the deposition Wednesday provided relatively few details.
Amid an ongoing Justice Department campaign to levy criminal charges against the president’s perceived enemies, Smith is also navigating a complicated legal minefield: His testimony is hamstrung by grand jury secrecy rules, DOJ policy and an order from a federal judge that a volume of his report surrounding the classified documents case remain under seal.
It’s not clear to what extent Smith told Congressional investigators he could not provide certain information due to the various restrictions on his testimony.
Democrats have argued the decision to hold the private deposition deprived the American public of important information about the president and amounted to an effort to distort the record of Smith’s testimony.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, was still hopeful Smith could be given the chance to speak publicly.
“I think somebody should prepare Donald Trump for it, because he will be devastated and humiliated by what he hears,” Raskin said in a brief interview Thursday.
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