Jack Smith told lawmakers Trump was 'the most culpable' in election interference case, deposition transcript shows

[Number Six]

Jack Smith told lawmakers Trump was 'the most culpable' in election interference case, deposition transcript shows​

The former special counsel who brought charges against Trump during the Biden administration had wanted to testify in public, but Republicans refused his request.

Jack Smith told lawmakers Trump was 'the most culpable' in election interference case, deposition transcript shows

The former special counsel who brought charges against Trump during the Biden administration had wanted to testify in public, but Republicans refused his request.

www.nbcnews.com

The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday released a full transcript and video of former special counsel Jack Smith's closed-door deposition before the Republican-led panel earlier this month.

The release consists of a 255-page transcript and more than eight hours of video. Smith sought to testify publicly, but his request was denied by Republicans on the Judiciary Committee.


In the deposition, a confident, candid and straight-to-the-point Smith described in great detail why he believed he had enough evidence to not only try but convict President Donald Trump of conspiracy to obstruct the certification of the electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021, along with the other criminal charges against him in Washington, D.C., and Florida.

During his opening statement, Smith told lawmakers that his team found “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump engaged in a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Smith also testified that Trump “repeatedly tried to obstruct justice” in the classified documents case, as previously reported by NBC News.

Jack Smith says he could prove Trump engaged in 'criminal scheme' to overturn 2020 election
02:59
On the election interference case, Smith said Trump was “by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy,” and that there was strong evidence that Trump was spreading “claims that were so outlandish and so just fantastical” and continuing “to push those sort of claims after they’d been disabused.”

The Judiciary Committee, led by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, a top Trump ally, is investigating Smith and his former office over the federal indictments of the president after his first term.

One of the indictments alleged that Trump improperly stored classified documents after he left office, while the second alleged that he interfered in the 2020 presidential election by spreading false claims about voter fraud.

Both cases have since been dismissed. Trump pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.

Since returning to office, Trump has repeatedly called for Smith to be prosecuted.

Smith said during his testimony that he would not be surprised if he himself was indicted by the Justice Department.

At one point, Smith was asked whether Trump’s false statements about the 2020 election were protected by the First Amendment.

“Absolutely not,” he answered.

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“There is no historical analog for what President Trump did in this case. As we said in the indictment, he was free to say that he thought he won the election,” Smith said. "He was even free to say falsely that he won the election. But what he was not free to do was violate federal law and use knowing — knowingly false statements about election fraud to target a lawful government function.”


Smith told lawmakers multiple times that he could prove Trump knew the claims he was making about election fraud were false.

"When he was told that a fraud claim wasn’t true, he didn’t stop making it," Smith said.

"These would be false claims about dead voters. It would be false claims about underage voters. It would be false claims about illegal alien voters. The false claims were generally, as a general matter, about urban centers where he had lost the vote in a particular state that was otherwise close by a lot," he added. "And, again, these were claims that were rebutted by people around him who knew that they were false and in many cases told him they were false."

Smith also addressed Trump's attacks on him and other career civil servants in the Justice Department.

"I am both saddened and angered that President Trump has sought revenge against career prosecutors, FBI agents, and support staff simply for doing their jobs and for having worked on those cases," he said. "These dedicated public servants are the best of us, and they have been wrongly vilified and improperly dismissed from their jobs."

He also told committee members: "I made it clear from the day that I began at the Special Counsel’s Office this was going to be a nonpartisan investigation, this was not -- that politics would play no role in it. I think everybody in my office agreed to that."

To that effect, Smith described an incident of an FBI agent being dismissed from the case because they had disclosed emails that involved them arguing with family members about the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

"Once I saw that or heard about that, I decided he could no longer work on this investigation," Smith said.

 

[Number Six]

Trump was ‘most culpable’ for Jan 6 riot and would have been convicted in court, Jack Smith told Congress in newly released testimony​

 

[Jake Starkey]

Smith hung the GOP Congress by its balls.

 

[Phantasmal]

Jack Smith told lawmakers Trump was 'the most culpable' in election interference case, deposition transcript shows​

The former special counsel who brought charges against Trump during the Biden administration had wanted to testify in public, but Republicans refused his request.

Jack Smith told lawmakers Trump was 'the most culpable' in election interference case, deposition transcript shows

The former special counsel who brought charges against Trump during the Biden administration had wanted to testify in public, but Republicans refused his request.

www.nbcnews.com

The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday released a full transcript and video of former special counsel Jack Smith's closed-door deposition before the Republican-led panel earlier this month.

The release consists of a 255-page transcript and more than eight hours of video. Smith sought to testify publicly, but his request was denied by Republicans on the Judiciary Committee.


In the deposition, a confident, candid and straight-to-the-point Smith described in great detail why he believed he had enough evidence to not only try but convict President Donald Trump of conspiracy to obstruct the certification of the electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021, along with the other criminal charges against him in Washington, D.C., and Florida.

During his opening statement, Smith told lawmakers that his team found “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump engaged in a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Smith also testified that Trump “repeatedly tried to obstruct justice” in the classified documents case, as previously reported by NBC News.

Jack Smith says he could prove Trump engaged in 'criminal scheme' to overturn 2020 election
02:59
On the election interference case, Smith said Trump was “by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy,” and that there was strong evidence that Trump was spreading “claims that were so outlandish and so just fantastical” and continuing “to push those sort of claims after they’d been disabused.”

The Judiciary Committee, led by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, a top Trump ally, is investigating Smith and his former office over the federal indictments of the president after his first term.

One of the indictments alleged that Trump improperly stored classified documents after he left office, while the second alleged that he interfered in the 2020 presidential election by spreading false claims about voter fraud.

Both cases have since been dismissed. Trump pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.

Since returning to office, Trump has repeatedly called for Smith to be prosecuted.

Smith said during his testimony that he would not be surprised if he himself was indicted by the Justice Department.

At one point, Smith was asked whether Trump’s false statements about the 2020 election were protected by the First Amendment.

“Absolutely not,” he answered.

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“There is no historical analog for what President Trump did in this case. As we said in the indictment, he was free to say that he thought he won the election,” Smith said. "He was even free to say falsely that he won the election. But what he was not free to do was violate federal law and use knowing — knowingly false statements about election fraud to target a lawful government function.”


Smith told lawmakers multiple times that he could prove Trump knew the claims he was making about election fraud were false.

"When he was told that a fraud claim wasn’t true, he didn’t stop making it," Smith said.

"These would be false claims about dead voters. It would be false claims about underage voters. It would be false claims about illegal alien voters. The false claims were generally, as a general matter, about urban centers where he had lost the vote in a particular state that was otherwise close by a lot," he added. "And, again, these were claims that were rebutted by people around him who knew that they were false and in many cases told him they were false."

Smith also addressed Trump's attacks on him and other career civil servants in the Justice Department.

"I am both saddened and angered that President Trump has sought revenge against career prosecutors, FBI agents, and support staff simply for doing their jobs and for having worked on those cases," he said. "These dedicated public servants are the best of us, and they have been wrongly vilified and improperly dismissed from their jobs."

He also told committee members: "I made it clear from the day that I began at the Special Counsel’s Office this was going to be a nonpartisan investigation, this was not -- that politics would play no role in it. I think everybody in my office agreed to that."

To that effect, Smith described an incident of an FBI agent being dismissed from the case because they had disclosed emails that involved them arguing with family members about the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

"Once I saw that or heard about that, I decided he could no longer work on this investigation," Smith said.

DonOld never should have been allowed to run! I blame Garland.

 

[Number Six]

IT’S FINALLY OUT: Republicans tried their hardest to bury the Jack Smith transcript, but we finally have it.​

The transcript of Jack Smith’s deposition from December 17th is finally out, and it’s honestly infuriating to see how much effort was put into keeping this under wraps. After months of hearing "weaponization" claims, we finally get to see the actual testimony, and the contrast is wild. A few things that really stand out from the transcript:

The suppression of Volume Two: The minority counsel pointed out that they were forced to start this deposition without even having access to Volume Two of the report because Trump and his team have been fighting to keep it under seal. Smith was basically "gagged" from discussing the most serious details of the classified documents investigation the stuff found in the Mar-a-Lago bathrooms and ballrooms because of these legal roadblocks.

Last-minute data dumps: The minority only got the investigative files from the DOJ just one day before the deposition. They had less than 24 hours to review thousands of pages before they had to question the man who led the most high-profile investigation in modern history.

The "Retribution" Campaign: Smith’s counsel explicitly noted the risks Smith took just by showing up. They called out the fact that the "most powerful person in the world" has openly said Smith should be in jail just for doing his job.

Evidence of Overturning the Election: Smith testified that the investigation developed "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" that Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 results and prevent the lawful transfer of power.

Knowledge of the Loss: Smith cited evidence that Trump privately admitted he lost, including reportedly asking, "Can you believe I lost to this f'ing guy?" regarding Joe Biden. He also noted that Trump was repeatedly disabused of fraud claims by his own trusted political allies and officials.

Deceit as a Strategy: Smith described the "through line" of Trump’s efforts as deceit, highlighting how he presented normal election phenomena like mail-in ballots being counted later as "fraud" to create distrust among the public.

Exploiting Violence: Smith alleged that Trump and his associates exploited the violence of January 6th to call Members of Congress to further delay the election certification.

It’s pretty clear why certain people didn't want this released. They wanted to keep control of the "weaponization" narrative instead of letting people see that the Special Counsel was actually just following standard DOJ protocol and career-prosecutor principles.

You can read/download the full document here: https://krassencast.com/p/breaking-jack-smiths-closed-door

 

[Phantasmal]

Hubby and I are planning on watching the video! I’m anxious to see if closed door testimony results in the dramatic stupidity from MaGAts like Jordan or if they tone it down when there’s no audience.

 

[Tobytone]

Again, another thread without a single peep from Maze (Number Six). Color me stunned. The whole pathetic narrative hinges on pretending Jack Smith's 'opinion' is somehow worth a damn. This vicious Trump-hating zealot should be rotting in jail for his endless list of offenses. He's the poster boy for partisan hackery. His word carries exactly the same weight as anything from Maze: absolutely zero. Does a single shred of credibility mean anything to brain-dead partisans like Maze? Obviously not. No matter how much evidence piles up that someone has lied, cheated, and colluded, as long as he's screeching 'Trump bad,' he's instantly credible in their eyes.

Jack Smith will be remembered as one of the most unhinged, desperate hacks in the 'Jail Trump before he wins in '24 and exposes all our corruption' panic club. He'll spew any lie imaginable just to keep the drooling super-partisans like Maze and his echo chamber cheering. What choice does he have? Telling the truth was never on the table. I can't wait to watch him squirm on the stand under oath. Seeing him locked up where he belongs? That would be pure justice, though with the corrupt courts we have today, it's a very tall order.

 

[Number Six]

LOL yes I obviously haven't commented in this thread. Toby's your crying is fucking hilarious.

 

[Nordberg]

The fact is Trump scheduled his "rally" as close to the Capitol as permitted. He financed it. It was on the same day and at the same time that the electoral college votes were being counted and certified. He had speaker after speaker rouse up the attendees with violent and ggressive rhetoric. Trump's speech was the same, making the audience angrier. Oh yeah, as they were marching to the Capitol with a gallows for Pence, and violence on their minds and in their hearts, Trump said Oh yeah. Don't do violence. Rightys think that means he did not want violence. The entire rally was designed with violence in mind. This was Trump's rally from start to finish. He is responsible for all that happened.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

Jack Smith told lawmakers Trump was 'the most culpable' in election interference case, deposition transcript shows​

The former special counsel who brought charges against Trump during the Biden administration had wanted to testify in public, but Republicans refused his request.

Jack Smith told lawmakers Trump was 'the most culpable' in election interference case, deposition transcript shows

The former special counsel who brought charges against Trump during the Biden administration had wanted to testify in public, but Republicans refused his request.

www.nbcnews.com

The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday released a full transcript and video of former special counsel Jack Smith's closed-door deposition before the Republican-led panel earlier this month.

The release consists of a 255-page transcript and more than eight hours of video. Smith sought to testify publicly, but his request was denied by Republicans on the Judiciary Committee.


In the deposition, a confident, candid and straight-to-the-point Smith described in great detail why he believed he had enough evidence to not only try but convict President Donald Trump of conspiracy to obstruct the certification of the electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021, along with the other criminal charges against him in Washington, D.C., and Florida.

During his opening statement, Smith told lawmakers that his team found “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump engaged in a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Smith also testified that Trump “repeatedly tried to obstruct justice” in the classified documents case, as previously reported by NBC News.

Jack Smith says he could prove Trump engaged in 'criminal scheme' to overturn 2020 election
02:59
On the election interference case, Smith said Trump was “by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy,” and that there was strong evidence that Trump was spreading “claims that were so outlandish and so just fantastical” and continuing “to push those sort of claims after they’d been disabused.”

The Judiciary Committee, led by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, a top Trump ally, is investigating Smith and his former office over the federal indictments of the president after his first term.

One of the indictments alleged that Trump improperly stored classified documents after he left office, while the second alleged that he interfered in the 2020 presidential election by spreading false claims about voter fraud.

Both cases have since been dismissed. Trump pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.

Since returning to office, Trump has repeatedly called for Smith to be prosecuted.

Smith said during his testimony that he would not be surprised if he himself was indicted by the Justice Department.

At one point, Smith was asked whether Trump’s false statements about the 2020 election were protected by the First Amendment.

“Absolutely not,” he answered.

Recommended​

2026 Election​

news​

“There is no historical analog for what President Trump did in this case. As we said in the indictment, he was free to say that he thought he won the election,” Smith said. "He was even free to say falsely that he won the election. But what he was not free to do was violate federal law and use knowing — knowingly false statements about election fraud to target a lawful government function.”


Smith told lawmakers multiple times that he could prove Trump knew the claims he was making about election fraud were false.

"When he was told that a fraud claim wasn’t true, he didn’t stop making it," Smith said.

"These would be false claims about dead voters. It would be false claims about underage voters. It would be false claims about illegal alien voters. The false claims were generally, as a general matter, about urban centers where he had lost the vote in a particular state that was otherwise close by a lot," he added. "And, again, these were claims that were rebutted by people around him who knew that they were false and in many cases told him they were false."

Smith also addressed Trump's attacks on him and other career civil servants in the Justice Department.

"I am both saddened and angered that President Trump has sought revenge against career prosecutors, FBI agents, and support staff simply for doing their jobs and for having worked on those cases," he said. "These dedicated public servants are the best of us, and they have been wrongly vilified and improperly dismissed from their jobs."

He also told committee members: "I made it clear from the day that I began at the Special Counsel’s Office this was going to be a nonpartisan investigation, this was not -- that politics would play no role in it. I think everybody in my office agreed to that."

To that effect, Smith described an incident of an FBI agent being dismissed from the case because they had disclosed emails that involved them arguing with family members about the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

"Once I saw that or heard about that, I decided he could no longer work on this investigation," Smith said.

The MAGAts want to hide the evidence just like they are hiding the Epstein Files.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

DonOld never should have been allowed to run! I blame Garland.

Garland had a shot at him, but there are a lot of MAGAts in Congress to fault too.

Note that Garland is gone, but the MAGAts in Congress refuse to stop their Orange Jesus.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

Again, another thread without a single peep from Maze (Number Six). Color me stunned. The whole pathetic narrative hinges on pretending Jack Smith's 'opinion' is somehow worth a damn. This vicious Trump-hating zealot should be rotting in jail for his endless list of offenses. He's the poster boy for partisan hackery. His word carries exactly the same weight as anything from Maze: absolutely zero. Does a single shred of credibility mean anything to brain-dead partisans like Maze? Obviously not. No matter how much evidence piles up that someone has lied, cheated, and colluded, as long as he's screeching 'Trump bad,' he's instantly credible in their eyes.

Jack Smith will be remembered as one of the most unhinged, desperate hacks in the 'Jail Trump before he wins in '24 and exposes all our corruption' panic club. He'll spew any lie imaginable just to keep the drooling super-partisans like Maze and his echo chamber cheering. What choice does he have? Telling the truth was never on the table. I can't wait to watch him squirm on the stand under oath. Seeing him locked up where he belongs? That would be pure justice, though with the corrupt courts we have today, it's a very tall order.

 

[Number Six]

 

[Jake Starkey]

Again, another thread without a single peep from Maze (Number Six). Color me stunned. The whole pathetic narrative hinges on pretending Jack Smith's 'opinion' is somehow worth a damn. This vicious Trump-hating zealot should be rotting in jail for his endless list of offenses. He's the poster boy for partisan hackery. His word carries exactly the same weight as anything from Maze: absolutely zero. Does a single shred of credibility mean anything to brain-dead partisans like Maze? Obviously not. No matter how much evidence piles up that someone has lied, cheated, and colluded, as long as he's screeching 'Trump bad,' he's instantly credible in their eyes.

Jack Smith will be remembered as one of the most unhinged, desperate hacks in the 'Jail Trump before he wins in '24 and exposes all our corruption' panic club. He'll spew any lie imaginable just to keep the drooling super-partisans like Maze and his echo chamber cheering. What choice does he have? Telling the truth was never on the table. I can't wait to watch him squirm on the stand under oath. Seeing him locked up where he belongs? That would be pure justice, though with the corrupt courts we have today, it's a very tall order.

Jack Smith's opinion is worthy. Yours is not.

 

[Tobytone]

Jack Smith's opinion is worthy. Yours is not.

Another great reply from a moron. Good job making your point. Jakey says Jack's opinion is worthy, case closed, lol.

Let me try this common libtard tactic:
Jack Smith has raped a dozen women. What a disgusting pig, right? This is fun.
Jake Starkey lives in a mental hospital and has never been properly potty trained causing a very messy job for his underpaid illegal alien nurses.
Every leftist here is part of a conspiracy to take control of our military to seize power and use it against the American people that don't bend the knee to their woke ideology.
Everything I just said is as true as any left-wing allegation.

Wow, that really is easy, too bad normal sane people can't bring themselves to accusing people of disgusting acts without an ounce of credible evidence. I guess we'll have to just let the libtards have a monopoly on that tactic.

 

[Number Six]

Another great reply from a moron. Good job making your point. Jakey says Jack's opinion is worthy, case closed, lol.

Let me try this common libtard tactic:
Jack Smith has raped a dozen women. What a disgusting pig, right? This is fun.
Jake Starkey lives in a mental hospital and has never been properly potty trained causing a very messy job for his underpaid illegal alien nurses.
Every leftist here is part of a conspiracy to take control of our military to seize power and use it against the American people that don't bend the knee to their woke ideology.
Everything I just said is as true as any left-wing allegation.

Wow, that really is easy, too bad normal sane people can't bring themselves to accusing people of disgusting acts without an ounce of credible evidence. I guess we'll have to just let the libtards have a monopoly on that tactic.

Ah, the classic "I'll prove how wrong baseless accusations are by making baseless accusations" strategy. Truly, the intellectual equivalent of setting your own hair on fire to prove that arson is bad. Bravo, Toby—your self-own is so comprehensive, it deserves its own exhibit at the Museum of Failed Arguments.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

FTFY

 

[Tobytone]

Ah, the classic "I'll prove how wrong baseless accusations are by making baseless accusations" strategy. Truly, the intellectual equivalent of setting your own hair on fire to prove that arson is bad. Bravo, Toby—your self-own is so comprehensive, it deserves its own exhibit at the Museum of Failed Arguments.

Another AI response

 

[Number Six]

Another AI response

If stupidity were a talent, you'd have a gold medal in whining.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

FTFY