"Smith's appearance before the House Judiciary Committee marks the first open testimony about his work. He presided over two federal criminal indictments of Trump. Neither of those cases reached a jury before Trump won the election and returned to the White House last year. Republican leaders of the panel have portrayed Smith as partisan. But in a videotaped deposition, Smith said the president had only himself to blame, for charges he tried to overturn the will of voters in 2020."
""The evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy," Smith said in the deposition, which congressional Republicans released on New Year's Eve. "These crimes were committed for his benefit." Smith said the violent attack at the U.S. Capitol, which injured 140 law enforcement officers, would not have happened, except for Trump."
""No one should be above the law in our country, and the law required that he be held to account," according to a copy of Smith's opening statement he intends to deliver to Congress Thursday. "So that is what I did." He's been eager to defend the work of prosecutors and FBI agents who worked on the investigations of the president. Most of those people were fired after Trump returned to power. The president highlighted those personnel moves as an accomplishment at a news conference this week."
Jack Smith will testify publicly before the House Judiciary Committee about his investigations into President Trump. A portion of Smith's report concerning the president's mishandling of classified materials remains sealed. Smith led two federal criminal indictments of Trump; neither case reached a jury before Trump returned to the White House. Congressional Republicans have accused Smith of partisanship. In a videotaped deposition released on New Year's Eve, Smith said Trump was primarily responsible for efforts to overturn the 2020 election and that evidence showed Trump was the most culpable actor in the conspiracy. Smith asserted that the Capitol attack would not have happened except for Trump and emphasized that no one should be above the law.
Read at www.npr.org
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