“The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine,” Smith told lawmakers, adding that he believed the evidence established Trump’s guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt,” despite neither case ever being tried before a jury.

Smith, appointed by Garland to lead the two-pronged criminal cases against Trump in November 2022, saw both of his prosecutions collapse before Trump returned to the White House. The classified documents case was dismissed after a federal judge ruled that Smith had been improperly appointed without congressional approval, while Smith had voluntarily withdrawn the election interference case earlier this year.

Republicans focused much of the deposition on Smith’s approval of secret subpoenas for the phone records of lawmakers who communicated with Trump during the post-election period. Disclosures that first surfaced this fall, after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released Justice Department documents detailing how Smith utilized the Arctic Frost FBI investigation, which began in April 2022, to boost his prosecutions against the then-former president.

Under questioning, Smith acknowledged that judges who signed off on nondisclosure orders tied to the subpoenas were not informed that the records belonged to members of Congress.

“I don’t think we identified that, because I don’t think that was Department policy at the time,” Smith testified when asked whether judges knew the subpoenas targeted lawmakers.

Those nondisclosure orders prevented lawmakers from being notified and from challenging the subpoenas in court, a point Judiciary Committee members have argued raises serious Speech or Debate Clause concerns. Smith said that the need for secrecy inherently blocked such challenges but argued that his approach was lawful and necessary to avoid what he described as a “grave risk of obstruction of justice.”

Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) sharply criticized the DOJ’s internal review of the legality of the subpoenas as cursory, noting that internal DOJ communications showed agency officials believed the litigation risk was minimal, in part because lawmakers would not know their records had been seized until years later. When asked whether the Justice Department’s Public Integrity section conducted a thorough review before issuing the subpoenas, Smith also conceded, “Certainly, there could be more analysis.”

Smith added that he personally approved the subpoenas and relied heavily on advice from the Public Integrity Section, which concurred with his team’s legal assessment.

Among those whose phone metadata was obtained were former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Jordan himself, Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), and several Republican senators. Perry was the only lawmaker whose phone was physically seized, according to unclassified FBI records.

Separately, the transcript shows Smith distancing his prosecution from some of the most explosive testimony aired by the Democrat-led House Jan. 6 select committee, including allegations from its star witness, Cassidy Hutchinson.

Smith told Judiciary Committee members that Hutchinson’s testimony relied heavily on secondhand or even thirdhand hearsay and noted she would not have made a strong witness in the election interference case.

“At least one of the issues was that a number of the things that she gave evidence on were secondhand hearsay,” Smith said, adding that such testimony “certainly wouldn’t be as powerful as firsthand testimony.”

That included Hutchinson’s claim that Trump lunged for the steering wheel of his Secret Service vehicle on Jan. 6, an allegation later disputed by agents involved. Smith said investigators interviewed the relevant witnesses and found differing accounts that undercut the dramatic version presented during the televised hearings.

Republicans have long argued the Jan. 6 committee oversold unverified claims while withholding exculpatory testimony. Smith said his team never made a final decision on whether to call Hutchinson as a witness.

Despite the intense scrutiny, Smith denied that his work was politically motivated and said he followed the facts and the law, saying he would have brought another indictment against a former president regardless of their party affiliation. He also acknowledged that testifying carried personal risk, given Trump’s public calls for his prosecution.

JACK SMITH FAULTS DOJ FOR DROPPING TRUMP CODEFENDANT CHARGES

The Judiciary Committee said the release of the transcript and video was necessary to provide transparency into one of the most aggressive and controversial special counsel investigations in U.S. history.

The report about Smith’s case that he brought against Trump for alleged election obstruction was released on Jan. 7 this year, while a legal fight is still brewing over the release of the report from the classified documents case. A judge in Florida last week ordered the release of Smith’s second report by Feb. 24, though the court left open the option for Trump or his former alleged co-conspirators to attempt further delay of the report’s release.

Read the full transcript below:

Smith Depo Transcript Redacted w Errata by reportoftheday