Congress
Jack Smith makes his case against Trump in closed-door deposition
Former special counsel Jack Smith, who led the federal criminal cases against President Donald Trump during the Biden administration, has kicked off what is expected to be an hourslong closed-door deposition with members of the House Judiciary Committee.
In his opening statement to lawmakers, portions of which were obtained by Blue Light News, Smith defended his findings of allegations that that Trump mishandled classified documents and sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
“The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions, as alleged in the indictments returned by grand juries in two different districts,” said Smith, according to a copy of portions of that statement.
He maintained that this team found evidence to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power.”
Smith also said his team found “powerful evidence” in the classified documents case and alleged that the president “repeatedly tried to obstruct justice.”
“I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election,” Smith said in his statement. “We took actions based on what the facts and the law required — the very lesson I learned early in my career as a prosecutor.”
He added that he would have made the same decision if Trump had been a Democrat or a Republican — a nod to the GOP members of the committee who believe Smith was pursuing a partisan witch hunt against the president. Their fury has only intensified in the wake of recent revelations Smith secretly obtained phone records of at least eight Republican senators in his election interference probe.
Smith also defended that decision to request lawmakers’ phone data, for which Smith’s team did not receive the content of the calls.
“Exploiting that violence, President Trump and his associates tried to call Members of Congress in furtherance of their criminal scheme, urging them to further delay certification of the 2020 election,” Smith said. “I didn’t choose those Members; President Trump did.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the wake of repeated calls for his prosecution from Republicans and Trump himself, Smith faces unique political and legal risks. His testimony is hamstrung by grand jury secrecy rules and Justice Department policy — as well as an order from a federal judge in Florida that the second volume of his report surrounding the classified documents case remain under seal.
Smith, however, is hoping to defend his record as a career prosecutor from Republican allegations that he shepherded a weaponization of the Justice Department against conservatives — to the extent he could.
Walking into the deposition room, Smith did not answer shouted questions from reporters.
“The hunters become the hunted, huh?” someone shouted from the rowdy crowd swarming the former prosecutor.
Smith is represented by the big law giant Covington & Burling, which was sanctioned by the Trump administration earlier this year after revelations that it was providing free legal services to Smith. The move suspended security clearances for lawyers at the firm.
“In today testifying before this committee, Jack is showing tremendous courage in light of the remarkable and unprecedented retribution campaign against him by this administration and this White House,” one of Smith’s attorneys, Lanny Breuer, told reporters. “Let’s be clear: Jack Smith, a career prosecutor, conducted this investigation based on the facts and based on the law and nothing more.”
Breuer said his client “looks forward” to answering questions surrounding both of the cases he oversaw: the classified documents case and the case surrounding Trump’s efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 election. Smith was forced to drop both cases after Trump’s electoral victory in 2024, citing Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
A number of lawmakers filed into the deposition room Wednesday to watch the questioning — among them Reps. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.), Ben Cline (R-Va.), Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) and Hank Johnson (D-Ga.). House Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) are also attending.
Moskowitz, leaving the room early in the deposition, said the interview had been “boring.”
Smith had been requesting a public forum for his testimony to set the record straight about the scope of his work and the cases he would have pursued against Trump.
Jordan, however, declined that request, instead opting for a deposition behind closed doors.
Rep. Max Miller issued a subpoena to his former father-in-law and fellow Ohio Republican, Sen. Bernie Moreno, in the latest escalation of a long-running family legal drama.
Pamela MacAdams, an attorney for Miller, reported to the Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court Monday that three subpoenas were served in Miller’s divorce case, according to court records. A person with knowledge of the subpoenas granted anonymity to comment on them said that two were sent to Moreno and his wife, Bridget.
Their daughter, Emily Moreno, was married to Miller, and the two remain embroiled in a nasty legal battle.
Spokespeople for Miller, Emily Moreno and Bernie Moreno did not immediately return requests for comment. TMZ first reported on the subpoenas.
Miller is seeking reelection in a competitive district, and his campaign has been marred by accusations of domestic abuse against Emily Moreno and their daughter. Miller has repeatedly denied the allegations and chose to remain in the race despite other Republican lawmakers pressuring him to withdraw his campaign.
The House Ethics Committee, which began an inquiry into Miller after Miller asked to be investigated, is currently in a preelection blackout period. During that period, which will continue through the midterms, the Ethics Committee doesn’t take any action against sitting members who could return next Congress.
Congress
Trump declares $1B canceled in ‘pocket rescission’ in another affront to Congress’ funding power
President Donald Trump informed congressional leaders Friday that he has unilaterally canceled almost $1 billion without Congress’ consent — employing a budget maneuver many lawmakers consider illegal.
In a move that will almost certainly set up an ugly government funding battle after the midterms, Trump has again claimed the power to execute a so-called “pocket rescission” to nix money Congress has already enacted. The money his administration will claw back is for for immigration services, support to foreign countries, education programs, health research efforts and assistance for businesses owned by minorities.
By law, the president is allowed to send Congress a request to rescind federal funding, then withhold that money for 45 days while lawmakers consider whether to approve, reject or ignore it. Trump administration officials also argue they have the power to cancel funding without any congressional action by sending Congress a rescission request with less than 45 days left in the fiscal year. The argument is that the money automatically gets canceled on Sept. 30, when funding lapses at the end of the fiscal year.
Last year, Trump canceled $4.9 billion in foreign aid.
The Senate’s top Republican appropriator, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, immediately blasted the move as illegal, saying in a statement Friday night that “any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law.”
“This move shows that OMB intentionally withheld these funds for months to execute this unlawful cancellation of appropriations that were approved on a bipartisan basis and signed into law,” Collins added, pledging to work with other lawmakers “to address these illegal actions.”
Collins and other appropriators have already been on high alert in recent days, pressing multiple agencies about funding officials have yet to spend ahead of the expiration date.
Democrats are finally catching on to how to talk to young male voters in the lead-up to the midterms, but the party can still up its game, one battleground senator and potential 2028er said Friday.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) has been one of his party’s most outspoken critics on its handling of outreach to young men, who swung right and helped deliver the White House and both chambers of Congress to Republicans in 2024.
The party is now “definitely moving in the right direction,” Gallego said Friday.
“Like back in the day, I was like the only one,” putting out positions on men, Gallego said at a Washington event on young American men. “Now, like, it seems like everyone every week is coming out with a new position, new idea, which is great.”
Gallego has criticized Democrat’s failure to highlight mens’ struggles and their tendency to over-police mens’ ideas. But there are signs the political winds have shifted in his party’s favor.
A new Cygnal poll released with the event of men ages 18-30 who say they’re the most determined to vote revealed Democrats’ generic ballot lead over Republicans at 57%-40%, Blue Light News reported. The poll also said nearly 40 percent of respondents said they feel their lives are off track.
“We need to take the opportunity to invest in that portion of this country, to say that we care about them and actually try to change the trajectory of what’s happening with men in this country,” Gallego said at the symposium.
Still, the path for specific legislation targeting the needs of this demographic faces an incredibly tight calendar this Congress and is uncertain in the political landscape of next year.
A proposal from Gallego and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) to establish a men’s health office within the Department of Health and Human Services, for example, has not advanced. Nor has bipartisan legislation from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who also spoke at the event, targeting education outcomes, college investment transparency and dyslexic student support.
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