--- title: Jack Smith Testifies Trump 'Engaged in Criminal Activity' description: Former Special Counsel Jack Smith vigorously defended his Trump indictments in his first public testimony since both prosecutions were dropped canonical: https://time.com/7357165/jack-smith-trump-hearing-congress/ author: Philip Wang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-01-22T17:12:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-01-22T21:06:51.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jack Smith Testifies Trump 'Engaged in Criminal Activity' og:description: Former Special Counsel Jack Smith defended his indictments as he was grilled by House Republicans in a heated House Judiciary Committee hearing. og:url: https://time.com/7357165/jack-smith-trump-hearing-congress/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56a5ea82e6c1e02e/6998cd0df1b08239846f2073/GettyImages-2256971149.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 8256 og:image:height: 4644 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-PROSECUTION-CONSTITUTION-VOTE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jack Smith Testifies Trump 'Engaged in Criminal Activity' twitter:description: Former Special Counsel Jack Smith defended his indictments as he was grilled by House Republicans in a heated House Judiciary Committee hearing. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56a5ea82e6c1e02e/6998cd0df1b08239846f2073/GettyImages-2256971149.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jack Smith Asserts Trump 'Engaged in Criminal Activity' in Heated Capitol Hill Showdown > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=432902f3-b6eb-4c0b-8daa-b625d583dd18&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Philip Wang](https://time.com/author/philip-wang/)  ## Philip Wang Updated: Jan 22, 2026 9:06 PM UTCPublished: Jan 22, 2026 5:12 PM UTC  Former US special counsel Jack Smith, testifies before the House Judiciary Committee about his investigations into President Donald Trump. Former US special counsel Jack Smith, testifies before the House Judiciary Committee about his investigations into President Donald Trump. Saul Loeb—AFP via Getty Images  by [Philip Wang](https://time.com/author/philip-wang/)  ## Philip Wang Updated: Jan 22, 2026 9:06 PM UTCPublished: Jan 22, 2026 5:12 PM UTC More than a year after his historic prosecutions of Donald Trump were rendered moot by the 2024 presidential election, former Special Counsel Jack Smith defended his indictments as he was grilled by House Republicans in a heated House Judiciary Committee hearing. “My fear is that we have seen the rule of law functioning in our country for so long that many of us come to take it for granted,” Smith said in his first public testimony since his investigations into Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents were dropped. The public hearing came as Trump, who repeatedly called Smith a “sick person,” said in a Truth Social [post](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115939889414201547) that Smith "destroyed many lives under the guise of legitimacy" and called for Attorney General Pam Bondi to look into Smith and “some of the crooked and corrupt witnesses.” “A big price should be paid by them for what they have put our Country through,” Trump wrote. Read more: [Trump Has Vowed to Prosecute His Political Foes. Here’s Who Could Be Next](https://time.com/7321683/trump-political-opponents-doj-prosecution/) Smith offered a strong pushback against House Republicans in his testimony, rebuking Trump’s rhetoric against him and his colleagues, saying many of the narratives spread about his team were “false and misleading.” “President Trump has sought to seek revenge against career prosecutors, FBI agents, and support staff, simply for having worked on these cases. To vilify and seek retribution against these people is wrong,” Smith said during his testimony. Asked if Smith believed the Department of Justice under Trump would find ways to indict him as retribution, Smith predicted it would do “everything in their power because they’ve been ordered to by the president.” Smith made clear he still believed that both of his investigations into Trump were just. "Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity,” Smith said. “If asked whether to prosecute a former President based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether that President was a Republican or a Democrat.” Republicans zeroed in on the scope of Smith's investigations, including his use of collecting cell phone records of members of Congress, including Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, which Smith said is a “normal practice” in a conspiracy investigation. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat of the committee, offered his praises to Smith and said he “did everything right.” “You acted based solely on the facts, the opposite of Donald Trump who now is purported to take over the Department of Justice,” Raskin said, adding that Trump now “acts openly, purely on political vendetta." Republican Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas directly addressed four former Capitol police officers in attendance for the hearing, telling them that Trump was not to be blamed for the violence on January 6\. One of the former officers, [Michael Fanone](https://time.com/6087577/michael-fanone-january-6-interview/)—who was beaten during the insurrection—responded to Nehls by flipping him off and telling the lawmaker to go “f— yourself.” Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican and the Judiciary Chairman also sought to discredit the testimony of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who testified two years ago that Trump did not move quickly to stop the violence at the Capitol on January 6 even as he was made aware of it, and that Trump tried to take control of the wheel of the SUV that he was being driven in that day so he could go to the Capitol. Thursday’s hearing was the second time Smith sat in for a congressional deposition. In December, Smith testified in a closed-door meeting before the committee. House Republicans later released the [transcript](https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/2025-12/Smith-Depo-Transcript%5FRedacted-w-Errata.pdf) of the hearing on New Year’s Eve. In it, Smith similarly defended his investigation and made clear he still believed that Trump is guilty of the charges. Smith was appointed as special prosecutor by former Attorney General Merrick Garland during the Biden administration to investigate Trump’s handling of classified documents, as well as his effort to overturn the 2020 election. Both cases resulted in criminal indictments against Trump, but the cases were later dropped. Republicans have accused Smith of running partisan investigations in an attempt to stop Trump from getting reelected. In a [letter](https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2025-10-14-jdj-to-smith-re-ti-request.pdf) to Smith sent in October, Jordan, the Judiciary Committee chairman, said the investigations “undermined the integrity of the criminal justice system.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7357165/jack-smith-trump-hearing-congress/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7357165/jack-smith-trump-hearing-congress/"},"headline":"Jack Smith Asserts Trump 'Engaged in Criminal Activity' in Heated Capitol Hill Showdown","datePublished":"2026-01-22T17:12:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-01-22T21:06:51.000Z","description":"Former Special Counsel Jack Smith defended his indictments as he was grilled by House Republicans in a heated House Judiciary Committee hearing.","url":"https://time.com/7357165/jack-smith-trump-hearing-congress/","keywords":["Congress","Donald Trump","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56a5ea82e6c1e02e/6998cd0df1b08239846f2073/GettyImages-2256971149.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Philip Wang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/philip-wang/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56a5ea82e6c1e02e/6998cd0df1b08239846f2073/GettyImages-2256971149.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-PROSECUTION-CONSTITUTION-VOTE","caption":"Jack Smith Congress Hearing","creditText":"Saul Loeb—AFP via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7357165/jack-smith-trump-hearing-congress/","name":"Jack Smith Asserts Trump 'Engaged in Criminal Activity' in Heated Capitol Hill Showdown"}}]}] ```