Takeaways from Jack Smith’s testimony on his case against Trump – AP News

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Takeaways from Jack Smith on his case against Trump, ‘so many witnesses’ and the threats ahead

1 of 6 | Jack Smith stands by his Trump investigation at congressional hearing

2 of 6 | Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith testifies before the House Judiciary Committee about his investigations into President Donald Trump, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026 at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin)

3 of 6 | Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith waits to testify before the House Judiciary Committee about his investigations into President Donald Trump, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026 at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo / Mark Schiefelbein)

4 of 6 | Founder of the Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes, center, taking his seat for the testimony of former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith before the House Judiciary Committee about his investigations into President Donald Trump, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026 at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin)

5 of 6 | Washington Metropolitan Police officer Daniel Hodges, left, greets former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith after the House Judiciary Committee hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin)

6 of 6 | Former U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Harry Dunn, left, hands former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith a police patch after the House Judiciary Committee hearing about his investigations into President Donald Trump at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. Looking on at center is Washington Metropolitan Police officer Daniel Hodges. (AP Photo / Jacquelyn Martin)

By  LISA MASCARO, MARY CLARE JALONICK, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER Updated 3:49 PM PST, January 22, 2026

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Former special counsel Jack Smith testified Thursday about his investigation of President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, detailing how the defeated president “sought to prey” on his supporters and “looked for ways to stay in power,” culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

It was Smith’s first public hearing since he left the department last year, and the nearly five-hour session at the House Judiciary Committee delved into far-flung details — from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s blockbuster testimony before the Jan. 6 committee to the gag order slapped on Trump during the investigation over his efforts to intimidate witnesses.

“Our investigation revealed that Donald Trump is the person who caused Jan. 6, it was foreseeable to him, and that he sought to exploit the violence,” Smith testified.

Trump, during the hearing, was live-posting his rage against Smith — suggesting the former career prosecutor should himself be prosecuted. In the room sat militant Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, and a tense encounter erupted between one audience member and police who had defended the Capitol, reminding how Jan. 6 still divides the Congress, and the country.

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Capitol riot ‘does not happen’ without Trump, Jack Smith told Congress – Smith said he believes Trump officials now will do “everything in their power” to prosecute him, but he said he would “not be intimidated” by attacks from the president, adding that investigators gathered proof that Trump committed “serious crimes.”

Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith testifies before the House Judiciary Committee at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo / Mark Schiefelbein)

“I’m not going to pretend that didn’t happen because he’s threatening me,” Smith said.

Once Trump won reelection in 2024, Smith abandoned the cases against him, adhering to Justice Department protocol against prosecuting a sitting president. Trump faced a four-count indictment in the conspiracy to overthrow the election and, separately, Smith’s team indicted Trump over holding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home.

Throughout the session, Republicans highlighted new developments as they seek to sow doubt on Smith’s now defunct-case against Trump, while Democrats warned that Trump’s allies are trying to rewrite history after the defeated president sent his supporters to the Capitol to fight for his failed election against Democrat Joe Biden.

Far from done, Smith is expected to be called before the Senate, which is planning its own hearing, and he has been unable to discuss the documents case that lawmakers want to probe. Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon halted the release of a report by Smith’s team on that case with an injunction that is set to expire next month, but lawyers for Trump have asked to leave it permanently under seal.

One star witness under scrutiny, but Smith says there are ‘so many’ more

Republicans have fixated for years on countering the gripping testimony that former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson gave to the Jan. 6 committee, trying to prove her wrong.

The young aide recounted having been told that day about Trump lunging for the steering wheel in the presidential limousine as he demanded to join supporters at the Capitol. It’s a story that others said did not happen.

“Mr. Smith, is Cassidy Hutchinson a liar?” asked Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the committee chairman.

Smith explained that Hutchinson’s testimony was “second hand,” and as his team interviewed other witnesses, and the Secret Service agent in the car at the time “did not confirm what happened.”

Jordan pressed whether Smith would have brought Hutchinson forward to testify anyway, and Smith said he had not made “any final determinations.”

Smith said, “We had a large choice of witnesses.”

“That says it all,” Jordan declared. “You were still considering putting her on the witness stand because you had to get President Trump.”

In fact, Smith said, one of the “central challenges” of the case was to present it in a concise way, “because we did have so many witnesses” — state officials, Trump campaign workers and advisers — to testify.

“Some of the most powerful witnesses were witnesses who, in fact, were fellow Republicans who had voted for Donald Trump, who had campaigned for him and who wanted him to win the election,” Smith said.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

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