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Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two federal indictments against U.S. President Donald Trump, told lawmakers on Tuesday that he “will not be silenced by continued threats of prosecution” from the Trump administration and that he believes the rule of law is being threatened like never before.

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00:17This hearing will highlight the committee's investigation into the Special Counsel's political
00:25work and weaponized conduct.
00:30Today, the Special Counsel's own record and those of his staff will tell the tale.
00:38The ranking member has repeatedly pushed to have this hearing much earlier, and he'll
00:46probably mention that today.
00:48But, if we had followed that misguided and dangerous demand, we wouldn't have had most
00:59of the necessary records needed to show how Jack Smith's corrupt operation undermined the
01:06rule of law and threatened our very political institutions.
01:14Importantly, Mr. Smith has claimed his focus was on January 6th.
01:20But his own conduct contradicts that assertion.
01:26Listen.
01:28When his team subpoenaed records, sometimes the date ranges extended weeks, months, or years
01:40before and after January 6th.
01:44Indeed, some examples, Mr. Smith subpoenaed and obtained information on Republican groups
01:53as early as 2019 and as late as 2023.
02:01Jack Smith sought the toll records of 16 members of Congress and also obtained the content of
02:12members' communication breaching the Constitutional Speech and Debate Clause.
02:18Smith's subpoenas targeted hundreds of Republican groups and individuals.
02:27He subpoenaed communications those folks had with media and with the legislative branch.
02:36He also subpoenaed 87 Trump White House phones, knowing that they'd include communications with
02:45members of Congress, 44 members, just to be exact.
02:53Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged
02:59in serious crimes against our nation.
03:02If asked whether to prosecute a former president today based on the same facts, I would do so
03:10regardless of whether that president was a Republican or a Democrat.
03:16The charges against President Trump were the result of the evidence.
03:21Grand juries in two separate districts reached this conclusion based on his actions, as alleged
03:28in the indictments they returned.
03:30Rather than accept his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, President Trump engaged in a criminal
03:37scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power.
03:43After leaving office in January of 2021, President Trump illegally kept classified documents at his
03:51Mar-a-Lago Social Club and repeatedly tried to obstruct justice to conceal his continued retention of those documents.
04:00Highly sensitive national security information was held in a bathroom and a ballroom where events
04:07and gatherings took place.
04:10As with my appearance before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, I am prepared to answer
04:17your questions truthfully.
04:19I stand by my testimony before the House of Representatives and I will not be silenced
04:26by continued threats of prosecution from the president or others.
04:31I stand by him in the favor of the government in the CDU and they were rain
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