00:00Republicans in the Senate will destroy evidence and intimidate witnesses.
00:05We had a strong reason to believe that Donald Trump would destroy evidence.
00:11That was not directed at Donald Trump.
00:12It was stated disclosing it to members of the Senate.
00:16Mr. Smith, you and I have never met.
00:20But your team wanted to know to whom I spoke.
00:23When I spoke to them and for how long.
00:28You subpoenaed records associated with my phones, both personal and office.
00:33And you sought and obtained a court order to prevent me from knowing about it.
00:39For years, you were able to ask your questions in secret without me in the room.
00:47Today, the Senate gets to ask questions.
00:49And unlike you, we will do so in public.
00:53You have insisted that politics played no role in your investigation.
00:59The American people can judge for themselves.
01:03Let's start with your subpoenas.
01:06Did your team subpoena records concerning the Republican National Committee?
01:13We subpoenaed a number of records.
01:16That's a yes or no question.
01:19I do not have.
01:21I just want to be clear with you, Senator.
01:22I do not have a recollection of every subpoena.
01:24We did subpoena numerous records.
01:27Did your team subpoena the RNC?
01:29I would have to look at those records, but we did.
01:31You're testifying you don't remember?
01:32Yes, no, or I don't remember.
01:34There's your three options.
01:35It is very possible.
01:37I do not have a recollection of every.
01:43Again, I would have to look at the records.
01:44Do you have any idea who you subpoenaed?
01:46Can you name?
01:47All right.
01:47Let me help you.
01:49Did your team subpoena the Conservative Partnership Institute?
01:54That I do remember.
01:55Okay, good.
01:56We found one.
01:57And I can explain why.
01:58Did your subpoenas demand communications with Fox News?
02:04The subpoenas that we issued did ask for communication regarding ad buys because it was relevant to the false statements
02:12we were investigating.
02:13Purchasing advertising on a news agency you somehow believe is criminal.
02:17Did your team seek and obtain donor and fundraising data?
02:23I would have to look at the subpoenas, but again, I'm happy to.
02:26You don't know if you had donor and fundraising data?
02:29I'm happy to explain why we issued these subpoenas.
02:31Do you know if you had donor and fundraising data?
02:33I would have to look at the subpoenas.
02:35You don't know?
02:36Are you testifying right now you don't know if you obtained donor and fundraising data?
02:44You can sigh all you like.
02:46It's a very simple question.
02:47You know damn well you did.
02:48You've been questioned about the checks that you guys got.
02:51You know the answer.
02:54So why don't you answer the question?
02:56Did your team obtain donor and fundraising information?
03:00It's a yes.
03:01You can say yes.
03:03I do not recall the attachments to specific subpoenas.
03:07I'm happy to explain why we issued them.
03:09So you're testifying you don't remember if you got donor and fundraising material?
03:13Really?
03:15I do not recall because I have not seen those subpoenas in a very long time,
03:20but I'm happy to explain why we issued them.
03:23All in all, I get you want to dance and avoid the questions.
03:25I understand it because you can't answer a simple, straightforward question.
03:28All in all, you issued 197 subpoenas to 34 individuals at least and 163 businesses.
03:35And you sought records on at least 430 Republican individuals and entities.
03:40Is that right?
03:41And you're going to say you don't remember.
03:42Is that correct?
03:44I do not recall those numbers.
03:46I understand.
03:46You know, if you look at the list, there is one thing that is consistent.
03:51Every name on it is a Republican.
03:54Is it your view?
03:55Is it a crime to be a Republican?
03:58Absolutely not, sir.
04:00Is it a crime to write a check to Republicans?
04:02It is not.
04:03And I'm happy to explain why we issued these subpoenas, if you'd like.
04:08Sure, briefly.
04:10We had to conduct an investigation about whether any person or entity violated the law
04:16with respect to the attempt to block the peaceful transfer of power.
04:20To make that decision.
04:21Yes, I understand, and you used that as an excuse to engage in a massive fishing expedition targeting
04:27over 400 Republicans, and it was disgraceful.
04:30Let's just talk about the United States Senate.
04:33You issued subpoenas for more than 20% of the Republicans in the Senate seeking their phone records.
04:42You did so, and then you obtained orders, non-disclosure orders from Judge Bozberg.
04:52I believe Judge Bozberg should be impeached for his complicity in your abuse of power.
04:57Now, Judge Bozberg signed orders, and I want to read from the order Judge Bozberg signed
05:03that I didn't know about, that the Republican senators targeted here didn't know about.
05:07I want to read from the order.
05:10Quote, the court finds reasonable grounds to believe such disclosure, in other words,
05:18disclosing to me that you were subpoenaing my phone records, will result in destruction
05:24of or tampering with evidence, intimidation of potential witnesses, and serious jeopardy
05:29to the investigation.
05:31Mr. Smith, do you have any evidence whatsoever to believe that I and 20% of the members of
05:36the Republicans in the Senate will engage in destruction or tampering of evidence and
05:43intimidation of potential witnesses?
05:46No, we had powerful evidence that Donald Trump and his associates were-
05:50Am I Donald Trump?
05:51You are not, sir.
05:52Are the members of the Senate Donald Trump?
05:55No.
05:56Was this order directed at Donald Trump?
06:00No, I believe that-
06:01Did your office draft this order that Judge Bozberg signed, and he signed them like he was signing
06:06Denny's menus, one at a time, over and over and over again, facts be damned.
06:10Did your office draft this?
06:13I'd have to look, but I'm assuming that's the correct order, and if so, we did, and I'm
06:18happy to explain why we did, if you'd like.
06:19Good.
06:20I want you to tell us right now, are you an officer of the court?
06:24Yes.
06:25I want to tell us, did you have a shred of evidence that 20% of the Republicans in the
06:32Senate will destroy evidence and intimidate witnesses?
06:37We had a strong reason to believe that Donald Trump would destroy evidence-
06:42That was not directed at Donald Trump.
06:44It was stated disclosing it to members of the Senate.
06:47No, it was stated in disclosing it to anyone, and we do not have to wait for someone to
06:54be injured, for an investigation to be obstructed.
06:57We had strong reason to believe that Donald Trump would obstruct our investigation, given
07:04the obstruction alleged in the Florida indictment, given the attempts to intimidate witnesses
07:10in the election case, given the threats that were later made to witnesses in the election
07:15case.
07:15I, as a prosecutor, have a duty-
07:17Mr. Smith, are you aware of the statute to USC, section 6628?
07:23Yes, I am.
07:24That specifically protects Senate communication records and makes this non-disclosure agreement
07:32that you gave Judge Boesberg and that he signed that makes it illegal.
07:36Were you aware of it at the time?
07:39I do not recall discussing this statute at the time.
07:42Did you bring it to the judge's attention?
07:46I do not recall this being part of our application.
07:50So instead, you gave the judge an order that was contrary to federal law and you got the
07:56judge to sign order after order after order that was contrary to federal law.
08:00Is that right?
08:01No.
08:02We sought to follow department policy and the law at all times.
08:06Does department policy contravene federal statute?
08:09It does not.
08:10And we intended to follow them both.
08:12We submitted these non-disclosure orders consistent with the law and department policy.
08:21By the way, when you sought my phone records from AT&T, a number of senators had their phone
08:29records with Verizon.
08:30Verizon, unfortunately, was more than happy to comply.
08:35AT&T declined to hand over my phone records because they concluded doing so would be unconstitutional.
08:42It would violate the speech and debate clause.
08:45Now, ordinarily, when a prosecution seeks and issues a subpoena and the individual receiving
08:52the subpoena refuses to turn it over, ordinarily, the prosecution goes to court to enforce that.
08:57Is that right?
09:00I do not believe that's what happened in this case, sir.
09:03In this case, you didn't do a damn thing because AT&T didn't hand it over because they
09:07concluded it violated the speech and debate clause.
09:09And you know what your team said?
09:10Never mind.
09:11Nothing to see here.
09:12We're not going to fight because you knew if you went to court, you would lose.
09:19Our work in our securing these subpoenas and non-disclosure orders was consistent with
09:25the law.
09:25The toll records were...
09:27It was explicitly contrary to federal statute.
09:29It was explicitly contrary to the federal constitution.
09:32Let me ask you this.
09:36Do you have any regrets?
09:40Regrets regarding my work as special counsel?
09:43Yes.
09:44I regret that the people I worked with have been unfairly fired and vilified for doing their
09:51Of course.
09:51You can't bring yourself...
09:53Well, let me say congratulations.
09:54Congratulations.
09:55Because you have succeeded where Richard Nixon failed, which is weaponizing the Department
10:01of Justice and the federal government to go after your political opponents.
10:05Congratulations.
10:06You are stepping into the shoes of John Mitchell, and yet your abuse is far greater than John
10:12Mitchell.
10:13And I understand for the rest of your life, you're going to be hailed as a hero in the
10:18resistance movement.
10:20I assume you have a pink hat somewhere at home, and people will be proud of you for resisting, but
10:27I'll tell you what you have done.
10:30You have brought the Department of Justice into disrepute.
10:36Because instead of being apolitical, instead of enforcing the law, you willingly were conscripted as a foot soldier for the
10:43DNC.
10:44And you know what you also did?
10:47You re-elected President Donald Trump.
10:49Because the American people were disgusted at your willingness to abuse power in partisan ends.
11:01Javert from Les Mis would look at you with astonishment.
11:09I believe you have no regrets.
11:11I believe you have convinced yourself that this witch hunt, targeting half the country for partisan ends, was justified.
11:18Well, let me say, you have brought the Department of Justice into disrepute, and you have done enormous damage.
11:27And I believe your conduct represents the most egregious abuse of power in the history of the Department of Justice.
