{"id":18042,"date":"2026-01-22T13:01:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T13:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-jack-smith-speaks\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T13:01:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T13:01:42","slug":"capitol-agenda-jack-smith-speaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-jack-smith-speaks\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol agenda: Jack Smith speaks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s the televised showdown both Republicans and Democrats have long wanted: Former DOJ special counsel Jack Smith takes the hot seat<\/a> in front of the House Judiciary Committee Thursday morning. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s likely to be a long and lively examination of his aborted effort to convict President Donald Trump for trying to overturn the 2020 election.<\/p>\n

\u2014 What Smith will say:\u00a0<\/b>Smith plans to stand by his decision to prosecute Trump \u2014 and say that doing otherwise would have been \u201cshirk[ing] my duties as a prosecutor and a public servant,\u201d according to prepared remarks obtained by Blue Light News. It\u2019s similar to what he already told lawmakers behind closed doors<\/u><\/a>: that a jury would have found the president guilty of a criminal scheme had Smith been allowed to move forward with his evidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made my decisions without regard to President Trump\u2019s political association, activities, beliefs or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election,\u201d Smith plans to say, adding that the evidence his team gathered \u201cestablished that he willfully broke the very laws that he took an oath to uphold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith ultimately dropped the charges he brought in the election subversion case after Trump won reelection in 2024, since the Justice Department is prohibited from charging or trying a current president.<\/p>\n

Not every question might get a satisfactory answer: A court order sealed the second volume of his report around the classified documents case, and Trump on Wednesday night urged a judge to make that order permanent.<\/p>\n

\u2014 What the GOP is looking for:\u00a0<\/b>Republicans will likely hammer Smith on what they see as a political campaign against the GOP and Trump.<\/p>\n

Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said Smith represents \u201ca continuation of this weaponization of government against the president.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordan\u2019s decision to allow Smith to testify publicly after initially only allowing a closed-door session will let Republicans tee off as the public, and likely Trump, are watching. Expect to hear plenty about how Smith secretly obtained phone records for several current GOP senators during his investigation.<\/p>\n

\u2014 What Dems are hoping for:\u00a0<\/b>Democrats will take the opportunity to have Smith describe Trump\u2019s alleged criminal behavior in painstaking detail \u2014 including the president\u2019s attempt to stop Joe Biden from taking office.<\/p>\n

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) said Wednesday he was \u201cthrilled\u201d that Smith would be testifying publicly so that he can tell the American people \u201call the evidence that he has collected\u201d against Trump and why he was \u201clawfully indicted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerican people are going to hear that,\u201d Lieu said. \u201cAnd I encourage everyone to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

What else we\u2019re watching:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u2014 House funding action: <\/b>Buckle up for a long, wild day as House GOP leaders try to muscle through the last four fiscal 2026 spending bills. The Rules Committee reconvened Thursday morning after Speaker Mike Johnson struggled late Wednesday to strike an amendment deal with hard-liners that would allow the panel to move forward on the package.<\/p>\n

\u2014 War powers vote: <\/b>House lawmakers will vote Thursday on a measure to rein in Trump\u2019s military intervention in Venezuela. The margin is so thin that the vote could come down to attendance. GOP Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Don Bacon of Nebraska intend to support the Democrat-led resolution, and a few other Republicans are mulling voting \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hailey Fuchs, Kyle Cheney and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the televised showdown both Republicans and Democrats have long wanted: Former DOJ special counsel Jack Smith takes the hot seat in front of the House Judiciary Committee Thursday morning. It\u2019s likely to be a long and lively examination of his aborted effort to convict President Donald Trump for trying to overturn the 2020 election. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18042\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}