Former special counsel Jack Smith is expected to face intense questioning from Republican senators on Tuesday over his investigations into President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Smith is scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where lawmakers are expected to scrutinise his handling of the federal cases against Trump that were later dismissed.
The hearing comes as the Justice Department under the Trump administration continues efforts to examine the conduct of law enforcement officials involved in Smith’s investigations, including the election-related probe and a separate investigation into classified documents found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate after he left office in January 2021.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, has repeatedly criticised Smith. The title of Tuesday’s hearing — “Oversight of Jack Smith’s Abuse of Authority and the Targeting of Republicans and Related Matters” — signals the confrontational nature of the proceedings.
Grassley has accused Smith of abusing his investigative authority and politically targeting Republicans, allegations Smith has rejected. Smith, a career prosecutor who has investigated both Republican and Democratic figures, has maintained that his work was based on the facts and the law.
In a statement ahead of the hearing, Grassley said Smith “must answer” for what he described as “rampant abuse of authority and political targeting” funded by US taxpayers.
“If Jack Smith did that to Democrats, you’d never hear the end of it,” Grassley said, adding that he wants the Justice Department held accountable for actions carried out during the Biden administration.
Smith had not released a statement ahead of Tuesday’s appearance.
The former special counsel has previously said he believed a jury would have convicted Trump in the case related to the 2020 election had the matter proceeded to trial.
He also dismissed suggestions that his decisions were politically motivated, saying the idea that his actions were “influenced or directed by the Biden administration or other political actors is, in a word, laughable.”
Smith’s final report on the election-interference investigation said Trump “inspired his supporters to commit acts of physical violence” during the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
Trump pleaded not guilty in the case and denied that he had incited his supporters. He described his comments at the rally preceding the Capitol attack as “totally appropriate.”
After returning to office, Trump referred to people convicted over their involvement in the January 6 attack as “hostages” and granted them mass clemency.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has pursued what it described as a “grand conspiracy” investigation into actions by federal law enforcement officials dating back to 2016. The timeframe extends beyond the five-year statute of limitations that applies to many federal offences.
The administration has also removed FBI and Justice Department officials who were involved in previous investigations concerning Trump.
Lawyers representing current and former officials told a court last week that Justice Department officials appeared interested in examining the circumstances surrounding the FBI’s August 2022 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Florida. Agents recovered classified documents during the operation, which later became central to one of Smith’s criminal cases against Trump.
Joe DiGenova, a former federal prosecutor during the Reagan administration who led the “grand conspiracy” investigation before leaving the Justice Department this month, told NBC News that “lanes got crossed” during his final days in the role.
Smith had earlier appeared before Congress and said he would not be intimidated by political pressure. During testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, he also predicted that the Trump administration would seek to bring a criminal case against him.
Months later, Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio asked the Trump administration to investigate his claim that Smith had “seemingly” made false statements during congressional testimony.
Smith’s lawyers rejected the allegation, saying he had provided “truthful, responsive answers.” They described Jordan’s referral as reflecting “a chilling eagerness to weaponize the justice system by attacking a career, nonpartisan public servant who faithfully and fearlessly performed his duties by following the facts and the law.”
Former federal prosecutors told NBC News that pursuing a perjury case against Smith would present significant difficulties.
Smith is, however, not expected to answer questions about the classified-documents investigation during Tuesday’s hearing. US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, ordered that the relevant section of Smith’s special counsel report could not be released.
The Justice Department has argued that responding to questions about that investigation could breach Cannon’s order.
