By Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Former U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith, who unsuccessfully prosecuted President Donald Trump, is set to condemn "false and misleading narratives" about
his investigation as he appears before a House of Representatives panel on Thursday for his first public testimony.
Smith is set to field questions before the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee about his two criminal cases, which he dropped after Trump won the 2024 presidential election. One case accused Trump of conspiring to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election, while another accused him of unlawfully holding onto classified documents.
The hearing will mark the first time the American public will hear at length from Smith, whose historic prosecutions dominated Trump's years out of power and helped fuel the Republican president's quest for retribution since returning to office.
"President Trump was charged because the evidence established that he willfully broke the very laws that he took an oath to uphold," Smith plans to tell the House panel, according to testimony seen by Reuters.
Republican lawmakers are seeking to discredit Smith's investigation and buttress Trump's claims that the probes were an abuse of the legal system.
"He's got a lot to answer for," Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Wednesday. "I think he did what could be permanent damage to the perception of justice in America."
Smith defended his probes before the same House panel in closed-door testimony last month, arguing that he would have pursued indictments against any U.S. president based on the facts his team uncovered. He said Republican witnesses would have formed the core of his cases at trial.
Smith’s testimony is expected to focus primarily on the case that accused Trump of using false voter fraud claims to obstruct the certification of election results following his 2020 defeat to Democrat Joe Biden.
A federal judge has barred the Justice Department from disclosing many of the details surrounding Smith’s second case, which accused Trump of stashing highly sensitive government documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence following the end of his first term in 2021.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges and has repeatedly argued the charges were improperly aimed at damaging his 2024 campaign.
Neither case reached trial and Smith dropped them after Trump won re-election, citing a Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Trump, who called Smith a “sick guy” earlier this week, has called for his prosecution. The Trump administration has fired dozens of Justice Department lawyers, FBI agents and staffers who worked on the investigations.
Republican lawmakers are expected to press Smith on disclosures from the Justice Department showing that his investigators examined limited phone records from several Republican senators in the days surrounding the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.
Trump allies have argued that the records show Smith’s investigation was overzealous and aimed at the political opposition.
Smith has said the records were necessary to examine Trump’s efforts to pressure Republican lawmakers to block certification of the election.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward, additional reporting by David Morgan; editing by Andy Sullivan and Nia Williams)
