Jack Smith Will Not Be Silenced

Finally, the former Special Counsel speaks the truth in public, while the vengeful target of his criminal investigation continues to spread lies

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith, giving the Pledge of Allegiance before testifying to Congress. (Photo by Al Drago via Getty Images)

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith could not have been clearer yesterday about the culpability of Donald J. Trump in inciting the violent attack at our Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Finally, he had an opportunity to speak publicly in a House Judiciary Committee hearing after his closed-door testimony in December.

“Our investigation revealed that Donald Trump is the person who caused Jan. 6, that it was foreseeable to him and that he sought to exploit the violence,” Smith testified. “We followed the facts and we followed the law. Where that led us was to an indictment of an unprecedented criminal scheme to block the peaceful transfer of power.”

These remarks mirror what he had to say in his videotaped deposition before the committee that was released on New Year’s Eve. Smith cites Trump’s central role in instigating the violent and deadly efforts to overturn the voters’ will in 2020.

“The evidence here made clear that President Trump was, by a large measure, the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy,” Smith said. “These crimes were committed for his benefit.”

It remains appalling and infuriating that five years after that heinous day in American history Smith must still assert these knowable and provable facts. But they concern a pathological liar who retook the levers of power and continues to repeat the Big Lie of election fraud.

He did so just yesterday on the world stage in Davos, Switzerland, insisting, yet again, that the 2020 president election was “rigged” and “everybody now knows that.” He’s not only free to keep saying so, he continues to be backed up by ambitious sycophants and miscreants who cravenly seek proximity to power. This is what happens when a convicted felon and epic liar is not held accountable for his crimes.

That’s sickening enough. Yet this man—spiraling downward cognitively and physically while his hunger for vengeance only deepens—went further as the World Economic Forum crowd listened. “People will soon be prosecuted for what they did,” he said. “It’s probably breaking news, but it should be. It was a rigged election.”

Jack Smith is already among those threatened targets. “Deranged Jack Smith, in my opinion, is a criminal,” Trump said in October, foreshadowing his inevitable investigation.

Smith addressed these threats yesterday, offering an uplifting reminder of what courage and respect for the rule of law looks like. “The statements are meant to intimidate me. I will not be intimidated. I think these statements are also made as a warning to others what will happen if they stand up,” Smith said. “I'm not going to be intimidated. We did our work pursuant to Department policy. We followed the facts, and we follow the law.”

Yes, there are still such men who refuse to kowtow to a fascist regime and who remain determined to tell the truth.

I’d like to share one exchange between Smith and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the clear and purposeful progressive congresswoman from Washington State. I think you’ll find Smith’s succinct answers to Jaypal’s precise questions invigorating. The exchange was a welcome respite from the Republican speechifying, intended to keep pushing false narratives. (You can watch the back-and-forth here.)

First, her introduction:

“It’s high time that the American people hear directly from you about the results of your investigation of President Donald Trump for his criminal actions leading up to and the day of January 6th, 2021,” she began. She continued:

The facts, according to your report, are simple: Without a single piece of evidence, Trump sowed doubt about the 2020 election results and urged his followers to quote, ‘walk down to the capital and fight like hell’ on January 6th. And that’s exactly what they did.

Thousands of insurrectionists violently tried to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election and doing our duty. And they assaulted law enforcement officers, some of whom are sitting right here in the chamber with us.

I was trapped in the House gallery with a small number of members that day. And I will never forget the pounding on the doors and the insurrectionist threatening to kill us right outside.

My Republican colleagues keep trying to rewrite history. They claim that somehow Trump’s words and actions did not legally rise to the level of criminal activity, that he did not directly cause violence at the capital. And so I want to set that record straight with you right now.

Then, Rep. Jayapal’s questioning:

Jayapal: First of all, you successfully secured indictments against Donald Trump in two major federal cases. Election interference in the 2020 election and mishandling of classified documents after leaving office. Is that correct?

Smith: Yes.

Jayapal: And you’ve been a federal prosecutor for nearly 30 years. You led this investigation, combing through hundreds of thousands of documents, photos, videos, and communication. Did your investigation find that Donald Trump attempted to manufacture fraudulent slates of presidential electors in seven states that he lost?

Smith: Yes.

Jayapal: Did he pressure state officials to ignore true vote counts in those states?

Smith: Yes.

Jayapal: Did he spread lies and conspiracies to his followers to make them believe that the election had been illegally rigged against him?

Smith: Yes.

Jayapal: Did he pressure DOJ officials to stop the certification of the of the election?

Smith: He did.

Jayapal: Did he pressure his own vice president, Mike Pence, to stop the certification against the oath of office that he had sworn to the Constitution?

Smith: He did.

Jayapal: And when all of this didn’t work, did he, Donald Trump, motivate and inspire an angry mob to the US capital to stop the certification?

Smith: Our proof showed uh that he caused what happened on January 6th, that it was foreseeable and that he exploited that violence.

Jayapal: Did Donald Trump know that his allegations of election fraud were lies when he spread them?

Smith: Our proof was that he did and we intended to prove that at trial.

Jayapal: In fact, as the quotes from your report behind me show, he even privately admitted that he lost the election. Correct?

Smith: Yes.

Jayapal: He said, quote, ‘It doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election, you have to fight like hell.’ And he said, “Can you believe I lost to this effing guy?”

Jayapal concluded by asking Smith to share what he had told her during his closed-door deposition last month— “about the impact on our democracy, the toll on our democracy for not holding a president accountable for trying to steal an election.”

“Do you remember that exchange?” she asked.

“I do,” he responded.

“I want to return to it,” she continued, “because I think what you said in the closed door deposition is important for the American people to hear right here in your public testimony. How would you describe the toll on our democracy if we do not hold a president accountable for attempting to steal an election?”

Here’s what Smith—more than a year after he was forced to stop his investigation and file his final report before Trump was inaugurated again—concluded. His words are not only a look back at what happened, but a warning as we look forward to the midterms and the eventual exit of a criminal White House occupant and his lawless regime.

Smith: My belief is that if we do not hold the most powerful people in our society to the same standards of the rule of law, it can be catastrophic. Because if they don’t have to follow the law, it’s very easy to understand why people would think they don’t have to follow the law as well. And so I think the law should be applied equally to everyone.

Jaypal: And what do you think the toll is for future elections and future presidents who try to steal an election?

Smith: I think if we don’t hold people to account when they commit crimes, it sends a message that those crimes are OK, that our society accepts that. I believe that if we don’t call people to account when they commit crimes in this context, uh it can endanger our election process. it can endanger election workers and ultimately our democracy. The attack on this capitol on January 6th was—and the Court of Appeals in Washington DC said this—it was an attack on the structure of our democracy.

Jaypal: And we could experience much worse results down the road if this happens again.

Jan. 6, 2021 may be more than five years in the rear-view mirror, but Donald Trump’s continuing efforts to lie about that day, lie about the outcome of the 2020 election and exploit the power of the government to deny that truth remains an ongoing danger. The insurrection never ended—and we all continue to pay the consequences.

It is our patriotic duty to oppose this criminal president and his enablers bent on backing his lies and flouting our laws.

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