Today's testimony
- Former special counsel Jack Smith testified today before the Senate Judiciary Committee as GOP members accused him of “abuse of authority” and targeting of Republicans.
- Smith, who secured two indictments against President Donald Trump, told senators he continues to stand by his decision to prosecute the president, and he repeatedly defended his team, saying they “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation.”
- Smith was questioned about accessing basic phone records from lawmakers around the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, with one Republican senator, John Kennedy, telling him bluntly: “You make me want to throw up in my mouth.” Smith has confirmed that his special counsel’s office sought records of members of Congress’ call logs — a lawful effort typical of federal criminal investigations, but criticized by members.
Updates
(29)Our live coverage of today’s hearing has ended. You can read more about Jack Smith’s testimony here.
Key takeaways from Jack Smith's Senate testimony
Over an hours-long hearing, former special counsel Jack Smith repeatedly defended his decision to charge Donald Trump, explained his investigative steps and debunked several claims from Senate Republicans.
While Republicans continued to criticize Smith for obtaining lawmakers’ phone records around the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, Smith said he was investigating Trump and his allies’ efforts to spread false information to lawmakers in their attempt to delay the election certification that day.
When pressed on why he sought to prohibit phone companies from alerting lawmakers of the subpoenas, Smith said he was concerned Trump and his allies would seek to obstruct the investigation, including by threatening witnesses, which Trump had already done.
In one exchange, Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt accused Smith of attending a basketball game in Atlanta in February, 2024, and meeting with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
When Schmitt eventually showed text messages he had obtained purporting to confirm a ticket and seat for the special counsel, Smith said it was for a women’s college game in Maryland, not Atlanta.
The error from Schmitt appears to stem from a confusion over the Atlanta Hawks and the Iowa Hawkeyes, whom the University of Maryland was playing at the time.
Sen. Darline Graham, sister of the late South Carolina senator and Republican nominee to fill the seat for a full term, also attempted to corner Smith, asking if he believed her brother was “going to destroy evidence that was not even in his possession?”
“No,” Smith replied. “I believe your brother was a patriotic public servant, he was not a target of our investigation and, in fact, he likely would have been a witness in our case. Your brother investigated the claims that Donald Trump was making. He found them to be false.”
Schmitt unrepentant after suggesting Jack Smith committed perjury
Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt was cheered on right-wing media Tuesday for erroneously suggesting Jack Smith attended a basketball game in Atlanta on February 3, 2024, and could have met another Trump prosecutor, Fani Willis of Fulton County, Georgia.
The host of the Charlie Kirk Show on the right-wing “Real America’s Voice” told Schmitt after the hearing exchange: “You caught him out on this NBA game in Atlanta … It was a great moment, so good for you on that,” and “Got to give you some flowers here, sir.”
Schmitt’s accusation had already been knocked down. While Smith had attended a basketball game on that date, it was a women’s college game in College Park, Maryland, between the Maryland Terrapins and Iowa Hawkeyes, he testified. The US Marshals Service accompanied him, Smith said.
Two of his fellow prosecutors in the office, JP Cooney and David Harbach, also attended the game in Maryland, to see star player Caitlin Clark in action, a source familiar told CNN.
Schmitt responded on the Charlie Kirk Show that he simply was asking a question.
“It was the only NBA or NCAA men’s going on at that time,” in Atlanta, Schmitt said on the program, acknowledging that that Smith testified he was at a different game but not in a different state hundreds of miles away. “Here’s the thing, my job is to ask the questions.”
Smith says late Sen. Lindsey Graham "likely would have been a witness" against Trump
Late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s trip from Donald Trump critic to an ardent supporter included a brief period where he could have been star witness in a trial against Trump over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
Graham ran against Trump for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination and called Trump “unfit for office,” but before his death had become close a close Trump adviser whom the president said was like “a member of the family.”
But in the days after a pro-Trump mob attacked the US Capitol, instigated by Trump’s effort to overturn the results of an election he lost, Graham was a critic of Trump’s conduct. “Count me out, enough is enough,” he declared as he broke with Trump to certify Joe Biden’s election victory.
Former special counsel Jack Smith in his testimony Tuesday said Graham was a “patriotic public servant” who agreed with investigators that Trump’s election claims were false.
Sen. Darline Graham, sister of the late South Carolina senator and Republican nominee to fill the seat for a full term, used her questions of Smith in Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to portray her brother as a victim of an overzealous partisan investigation.
She cited subpoenas during the Jan. 6 investigation that obtained the toll records of Lindsey Graham communications — records that show to and from, as well as time of calls, but not content. And she cited a non-disclosure court order as part of the investigation.
“Do you really believe that Lindsey was going to destroy evidence?” the senator asked.
Smith responded: “No I believe your brother was a patriotic public servant. He was not a target of our investigation and, in fact, he likely would have been a witness in our case. Your brother investigated the claims that Donald Trump was making. He found them to be false.”
Before his death, Lindsey Graham had become a critic of Smith and sought to use federal legislation to obtain a settlement from the government for what he said was an illegal seizure of this communications records.
Sen. Tillis says colleagues should be careful about politicization claims
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis criticized his fellow committee members, and the public, for cheering on political investigations when their preferred candidate is in office.
“I find it interesting that people think they’re the only party who is right and righteous on this,” he said referring to allegations of “vindictive prosecution.”
Tillis referenced the ongoing prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey for posting a picture of seashells arranged to say “8647” on social media. Prosecutors allege the photo amounted to a threat on President Donald Trump’s life, which Comey has denied.
“I thought that 8647 was probably not a solid basis for (charging) a former FBI director, who disappointed me profoundly on this committee,” Tillis said. “Probably not the right way to spend our time.”
One question more: Cruz invokes "Les Misérables" in Smith hearing
Sen. Ted Cruz attempted to shame former special counsel Jack Smith by comparing him to the stalwart Investigator Javert, from the classic musical (and novel by Victor Hugo) :Les Misérables.”
“Javert from ‘Les Mis’ would look at you with astonishment,” the Texas Republican told Smith at the Senate hearing on Tuesday.
Cruz’s reference isn’t really on point with Javert in literature.
In the world of 19th century France, Javert initially is a character devoted to upholding the law. But as the story of ‘Les Mis’ progresses, Javert reassesses what he believes to be justice under the law, and true morality — which is not always the same thing.
Javert spends decades pursuing Jean Valjean, a criminal who stole a loaf of bread, escaped custody then rehabilitated himself, becoming a moral pillar of his community. He shows Javert mercy.
Ultimately, Javert is the man who falters. With these words before jumping to his death, Javert reflects on his own rigidity and failure:
“Stars in your multitudes … You are the sentinels / silent and sure / Keeping watch in the night / You know your place in the sky … If you fall as Lucifer fell / You fall in flames!”
Cruz claims special counsel investigation was a “fishing expedition”
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz repeatedly criticized subpoenas used by Jack Smith’s team to obtain financial information from various Donald Trump-supporting groups as a “fishing expedition” to improperly investigate Republicans.
While Smith’s team did look at fundraising efforts, the focus of their inquiry was not about that Republican apparatus, CNN has reported.
Instead, investigators examined what happened to the vast sums raised by Trump’s super PAC after the election to fund efforts to overturn the results, including whether Trump supporters had been defrauded.
That part of the investigation did not lead to any charges.
"We're putting on trial the investigators" exacerbated Booker says while recalling Jan 6
Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, recalled the January 6 attack on the Capitol during a fusillade against the decision to have Jack Smith testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“Let me get back to what the reality of the American people and what they’re witnessing right now,” Booker said. “This is gaslighting the American people.”
“This committee has not done what we should be doing, which is investigating the crimes, and yet we’re putting on trial the investigators,” Booker said after recounting specific details about the attack.
Cruz says Jack Smith brought Justice Department "into disrepute"
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, accused Jack Smith of weaponizing the Justice Department during today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
Mixing in references to the Watergate scandal and “Les Miserables,” Cruz accused Smith of fomenting a witch hunt which targeted “half the country for partisan ends.”
“Well, let me say, you have brought the Department of Justice into disrepute, and you’ve done enormous damage,” Cruz said. “And I believe your conduct represents the most egregious abuse of power in the history of the Department of Justice.”
His comments come in spite of President Donald Trump’s use of the Justice Department to prosecute his own political opponents.
Smith has "concern" about Supreme Court ruling expanding presidential protections
When asked about the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2024 expanding presidential immunity, former special counsel Jack Smith expressed unease.
“I do have a concern that when we create exceptions for powerful people, it can be very dangerous for the rule of law,” Smith said of the absolute immunity provided to presidents’ so-called official acts.
Smith told the committee he believes “that nobody should be above the law, regardless of what job they hold.”
Smith says non-disclosures put in place to protect against Trump’s obstruction efforts
When pressed on why he sought to keep secret his subpoenas for phone and other records over the course of his investigations, former special counsel Jack Smith testified that he was concerned President Donald Trump and his allies would attempt to obstruct.
Smith added that Trump, during the investigation, “suggested that a witness, General Mark Milley, should be put to death.”
The former special counsel also noted how two election workers in Georgia, “faced vile, racist death threats because of the things that Donald Trump said” about them.
“We had an absolute basis to seek protection of our investigation from that sort of obstruction,” Smith added.
Jack Smith addresses Justice Department firings
Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar asked Jack Smith of the impact of mass firings across the Justice Department since last year and how that has hurt the federal government’s ability to enforce the law.
Smith also spoke about a recent phenomenon — which post-dated his time in the Justice Department and as special counsel — that’s hampered Justice Department prosecutions in several federal courts, and in major cases.
“We have seen this with courts across the country losing credibility in the department because the department is no longer credible in their eyes.”
Several US attorneys across the country under this Trump administration have faced an extremely unusual uptick in grand juries refusing to indict cases, and juries have become harder to convince to convict criminal defendants in some federal trial courts.
Judges repeatedly have scrutinized the Justice Department’s work to an unusual degree as well, especially on cases that may involve highly political issues.
The sea change is commonly called, in legal circles, the loss of the presumption of regularity — meaning the trust judges are willing to place in the Justice Department has been lost, often leading to additional court proceedings.
For instance, certain cases charged in the Washington, DC, federal court are now routinely thrown out by judges for unsound Constitutional choices, and juries in the same court have struggled to convict many federal criminal defendants this year.
Smith, as a long-time prosecution supervisor in the DOJ, had a middling track record for convictions in public integrity cases he charged. But the Justice Department’s challenges in court over the past year have grown exponentially, in many jurisdictions and with a large variety of types of cases.
How today's hearing has played out so far
We’re watching former special counsel Jack Smith’s testimony today before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he said he “stands by” his decision to prosecute President Donald Trump.
In his opening statement, Smith emphasized that he is “not a politician” and has no “partisan loyalty.”
“If asked whether to prosecute a former president today based on the same facts, I would do so regardless of whether that President was a Republican or a Democrat,” Smith said.
“I will not be silenced by the continued threats of prosecution from the president or others,” he added.
If you’re just joining us, here’s a look at other key moments from the hearing, so far:
- In his opening remarks, Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley accused Smith of undermining the rule of law and threatening “our very political institution. He said Smith’s “operation was a partisan weapon that broke the rules.”
- Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said in his opening remarks that Republicans spent months spreading “conspiracy theories” about Smith’s investigation into Trump.
- Smith defended his staff of prosecutors against attacks from Republican lawmakers, noting the personal cost the investigations have taken. “I’m extremely proud to have worked with them,” Smith said.
- Smith also defended subpoenas for lawmakers’ phone records, saying he was focused on the actions of Trump’s alleged co-conspirators, and not members of Congress.
- GOP Sen. John Kennedy alleged that former Attorney General Merrick Garland checked with the Biden White House before approving Trump’s prosecution. There is no public evidence to support that claim, and Smith said he has “absolutely no idea” whether those conversations took place.
- In concluding a line of accusations against Smith, Kennedy ended abruptly: “You make me want to throw up in my mouth.”
CNN’s Holmes Lybrand, Hannah Rabinowitz and Michael Williams contributed to this report.
Sen. Schmitt accuses Smith of meeting with Fani Willis. His narrative quickly fell apart.
During his questioning of Smith, Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt accused Smith of meeting with Fani Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County, and pressed him on attending a basketball game in Atlanta in February 2024
“Did you go to an NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks on February 3, 2024?” Schmitt asked, with his staff quickly holding up a large poster before just as quickly taking it down.
Willis had charged Donald Trump and several of his allies with attempting to overturn the election results in Georgia, but her case fell apart defense challenges to her efforts that cited her romantic relationship with the top prosecutor she hired for the case.
Smith said he had not attended the game and asked to see the poster, which Schmitt refused to show. Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin and Cory Booker also asked for the poster to be brought back up.
When Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar asked again for the poster to be seen, Schmitt’s staff and Sen. John Kennedy held up the poster, which included text messages purporting to confirm a ticket and seat for Smith.
The game, however, was between the University of Maryland and the Iowa Hawkeyes, in College Park, Maryland, Smith said.
“I recall going to a University of Maryland basketball game where Caitlin Clark was playing right around that time, and the Marshal Service was there with me,” Smith said. “You could check if that was the exact date.”
At the end of the exchange, Klobuchar turned to Schmitt, noting the difference between the Atlanta Hawks and the Iowa Hawkeyes.
“Perhaps you should have looked at it more carefully,” she said.
Kennedy alleges former AG Garland asked for White House approval on Trump cases
Republican Senator John Kennedy alleged that former Attorney General Merrick Garland checked with the Biden White House before approving Donald Trump’s prosecution.
There is no public evidence to support that claim, and former special counsel Jack Smith said, while testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, that he has “absolutely no idea” whether those conversations took place.
During his term as attorney general, Garland was known for his hesitation to contact the White House to avoid any appearance of impropriety — often annoying White House officials and then-President Joe Biden himself for his refusal to do so.
Garland believed that the first Trump administration blurred the line between the two institutions, CNN previously reported, and that it was important to restore the image of independence to the American public.
Kennedy scoffed at Smith’s assertion, saying “do you believe in the tooth fairy?”
Sen. John Kennedy to Smith: "You make me want to throw up in my mouth"
In concluding a line of accusations against former special counsel Jack Smith, Republican Sen. John Kennedy ended abruptly: “You make me want to throw up in my mouth.”
Kennedy and other Republicans have accused Smith of violating Congressional protections by accessing basic phone records from lawmakers around the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Smith has defended his actions, noting that he gained approval from the Justice Department’s public integrity unit and was focused on efforts by Donald Trump and his co-conspirators to stop the certification that day and overturn the 2020 election results.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Smith said co-conspirators of Trump were calling Republicans and spreading false information in their alleged criminal efforts.
While congressional protections do not prohibit lawmakers from being investigated, Smith also said members of Congress were not the target of his investigation.
A reminder of the Trump DOJ’s struggles to prove his cases
The timing of today’s hearing is rather inauspicious for Republicans.
Even as they press the case that Smith was participating in what was effectively a lengthy conspiracy to target Trump politically, a related GOP campaign suffered the latest in a series of setbacks.
The so-called “grand conspiracy” case — a sprawling investigation seeking to tie together the many investigations of Trump into a large-scale conspiracy against him — continues to experience high-profile departures with little to show publicly for its efforts.
The latest to depart is election-denying lawyer Kurt Olsen, who spend recent months working on the case for the Miami-based US attorney’s office. His exit follows three weeks after the sudden departure of lead prosecutor Joe diGenova, who clashed with DOJ leaders who apparently became impatient with the pace of the investigation.
The departure of diGenova was particularly stunning given he had promoted related theories as a private citizen and was seemingly installed to push the investigation along. He vowed that he could bring criminal charges within 30 days, but did not do so.
DiGenova told the New York Post after his exit: “If you want indictments where there’s no evidence, you have an ethical problem.”
Likewise, Olsen has been a controversial figure, having played a major role in the search of an election office in Fulton County, Georgia.
The fact that even these figures have apparently been unable to produce Trump’s desired outcomes would seem to reinforce how speculative the allegations are.
Smith defends obtaining lawmakers' phone records
During his testimony, former special counsel Jack Smith defended subpoenas for lawmakers’ phone records, saying he was focused on the actions of President Donald Trump’s alleged co-conspirators, and not members of Congress.
“We consulted with the public integrity section regarding whether those toll records subpoenas were appropriate,” Smith said, adding that he “approved those records, and those records were materially relevant to our investigation.”
Smith said the records — which include records of calls made and their duration but not the call’s contents — “corroborated evidence that we had that the president, President Donald Trump, and his co-conspirators were seeking to exploit the violence on January 6th in furtherance of their criminal scheme.”
“We had interviewed co-conspirators who talked about the calls that were made to members of Congress,” around January 6, Smith said. “We had recordings of voicemails that showed that – these voicemails are public – where the co-conspirators were again providing false information to try to delay the proceedings” that day, Smith said.
The call records, Smith added, were “centrally relevant” to the criminal intent of seeking to delay the January 6 proceedings “in violation of the law.”
Smith also said that members of Congress were reaching out to the White House on January 6, asking “Please help us. Please stop what’s happening. Please have your supporters stop attacking the Capitol.”
Durbin says Republicans spread conspiracy theories about Smith's investigation
Republicans spent months spreading “conspiracy theories” about special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into President Donald Trump, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said during his opening remarks at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this morning.
Durbin went on to recount Trump’s loss in the 2020 election and his efforts to overturn the results which culminated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Smith was tasked with investigating Trump’s role in fomenting the attack and his retention of classified records.
“In the weeks following President Trump’s 2020 election loss — and yes, for the record, the president did lose the election — he tried to subvert the will of the people and steal the presidency,” Durbin said of Trump.
He later said: “Malfeasance by government officials is sadly not a new phenomenon, but President Trump’s misconduct was egregious, differing in kind and scale from what we had seen by any president before him. Investigating misconduct by government officials requires scrupulous care.
“Thankfully, Mr. Smith, who is here today, and will be under oath, and his team of nonpartisan career prosecutors had the necessary experience to tackle this assignment,” he added.
Smith defends staff amid Republican attacks
Former special counsel Jack Smith defended his staff of prosecutors against attacks from Republican lawmakers during Tuesday’s hearing, noting the personal cost the investigations have taken.
“I’m extremely proud to have worked with them,” Smith said, “and the fact that they have been targeted illegally, lost their jobs illegally, and had their lives turned upside down by this Department of Justice is an outrage.”
Prosecutors and FBI agents who worked on the investigations into Donald Trump’s retention of classified documents and efforts to overturn the election were fired by the Justice Department following Trump’s 2024 election victory.
