Jack Smith, the former special counsel who prosecuted President Donald Trump on charges of conspiring to undo the 2020 election, insists the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol was Trump’s fault. In newly released testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, Smith said the violent attack “does not happen” without Trump.
He added that Trump did nothing to stop the riot.
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Smith’s testimony
The committee released details of Smith’s testimony on Wednesday. Smith testified before lawmakers in private for more than eight hours on Dec. 17, answering questions about his investigations of Trump.
Smith told the Judiciary Committee that Trump was “the most culpable and most responsible person” for the uprising.
In Smith’s words, the attack at the Capitol would not have happened if it weren’t for Trump and the “crimes were committed for his benefit.”
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Federal grand juries indicted Trump on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election and of illegally possessing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Both cases were dropped after Trump won a second term in 2024.
Smith resigned as special counsel just before the inauguration last January, noting that a sitting president cannot be indicted or face criminal prosecution.
Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, while attacking Smith personally and claiming the investigations were a conspiracy against him.
In his testimony, Smith denied politics motivated his investigations.
“The evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy,” he said. “These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him. The other co-conspirators were doing this for his benefit. So in terms of why we would pursue a case against him, I entirely disagree with any characterization that our work was in any way meant to hamper him in the presidential election.”
