前特别顾问杰克·史密斯为他两次起诉唐纳德·特朗普总统的决定进行了辩护——他在本月早些时候的一次闭门证词中告诉立法者，他的团队“在这两起案件中均有确凿证据”，证明特朗普在2020年选举干预和机密文件案件中犯有指控。
史密斯强烈否认他的决定背后有任何政治影响-与众议院司法委员会的共和党人相反，他们要求作证，声称-例如来自当时总统乔·拜登或司法部长梅里克·加兰的压力。
“不，”史密斯不断地回答。
根据司法委员会周三发布的255页证词文字记录，就在12月17日闭门作证的一个多小时前，司法部向史密斯的律师发送了一封电子邮件，阻止他讨论机密文件案，同时发布了听证会的视频。
这意味着史密斯无法回答该案件的大多数问题，而证词旨在询问有关DOJ对特朗普及其盟友的所谓武器化的问题，主要集中在2020年的选举案件上。
根据证词，史密斯的律师表示，DOJ还拒绝派律师就史密斯的陈述是否符合他们对他在案件中能说或不能说的决定提供建议。然而，史密斯确实表示，特朗普“阻挠”了机密文件调查，“以掩盖他继续保留这些文件的行为。”
特朗普一再否认这两起重罪案件中的指控，这是对美国总统前所未有的指控，并谴责这些指控是“政治迫害”的一部分。史密斯是特朗普在社交媒体上经常攻击的目标之一，他最终在特朗普连任后放弃了这些案件，因为他说宪法禁止他起诉在任总统。
史密斯在他的最后报告中断言，“要不是特朗普当选并即将重返总统宝座，该办公室评估认为，可采纳的证据足以在审判中获得并维持定罪。”
在证词中，史密斯像过去一样辩称，特朗普“特朗普总统参与了一项推翻2020年大选结果并阻止权力合法转移的犯罪计划。”
当被问及特朗普是否应对1月6日国会大厦的暴力事件负责时，史密斯说，“我们对证据的看法是，他造成了暴力，他利用了暴力，这对他来说是可以预见的。”
史密斯认为，特朗普声称他赢得了2020年大选，这不是受保护的言论自由，因为它们旨在针对政府职能。
“特朗普总统在这件事上的所作所为在历史上没有先例。正如我们在起诉书中所说，他可以自由地说，他认为他赢得了选举。他甚至可以自由地谎称自己赢得了选举，”史密斯说。“但他不能自由地做的是违反联邦法律，利用明知故犯的关于选举舞弊的虚假陈述来攻击合法的政府职能。他不被允许做的事。这使得这次事件不同于以往的任何历史。”
史密斯说，特朗普在1月6日袭击国会大厦期间写了一条推文，“毫无疑问，我认为这危及了他自己的副总统的生命”。
史密斯说，几名声称投票或竞选特朗普的证人——包括亚利桑那州众议院议长和密歇根州众议院议长——是本案的基础。
“我们在宾夕法尼亚州有一名选举人，他是一名前国会议员，将成为特朗普总统的选举人，他说他们试图做的事情是试图推翻政府，是非法的。坦率地说，我们的案子是建立在共和党人把对国家的忠诚放在政党之前的基础上的，”史密斯说。
当被问及为什么史密斯没有起诉任何一个被指控的同谋时，史密斯说“正如我们在最终报告中所说的，我们分析了针对不同同谋的证据。我们-我的员工确定我们确实有证据在某个时间点指控人们。特朗普总统赢得连任时，我还没有就此做出最终决定，这意味着我们的办公室将被关闭。”
史密斯说，他有证据表明，特朗普命令所谓的同谋在1月6日晚上给参议员打电话，试图推迟认证投票。
委员会向史密斯施压，要求他为什么不与特朗普的盟友史蒂夫·班农、罗杰·斯通或彼得·纳瓦罗交谈，作为他们调查的一部分。
“我们遵循了我们认为最有成效的调查路线，”史密斯争辩道。"我认为试图质问他们不会有什么结果。"
他们要求他没收国会议员的电话。史密斯说，只有斯科特·佩里的手机被没收，没有参议员被没收。
“我不记得了，”当被问及他是否想要国会议员任何短信内容的搜查令时，史密斯说。
史密斯说，他只是想要收费记录，并确认他批准了传票。
“如果唐纳德·特朗普选择给一些民主党参议员打电话，我们就会获得民主党参议员的收费记录。所以，为什么要收集这些记录，为什么要收集这些记录，责任在于唐纳德·特朗普，”史密斯说。
史密斯回忆说，根据他的团队对马克·梅多斯的采访，司法委员会主席吉姆·乔丹在1月6日直接与白宫联系。
Meadows说Jordan很害怕。“我从来没有见过吉姆·乔丹害怕任何东西，”据史密斯说。
史密斯说，他“睁大眼睛”，他相信特朗普会对他进行报复。
“我来到了这里。我被要求来这里，”他补充道。
Jack Smith says 'no historical analog' for Trump's actions around 2020 election, denies political influence
Former special counsel Jack Smith defended his decision to bring charges twice against President Donald Trump -- telling lawmakers in a closed-door deposition earlier this month that his team "had proof beyond reasonable doubt in both cases" that Trump was guilty of the charges in the 2020 election interference and classified documents cases.
And Smith fervently denied that there was any political influence behind his decision -- contrary to what the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, who requested the testimony, alleged -- such as pressure from then-President Joe Biden or Attorney General Merrick Garland.
"No," Smith responded continuously.
Just over an hour before the closed testimony on Dec. 17, the Department of Justice sent an email to Smith's lawyers preventing him from discussing the classified documents case, according to the 255-page transcript of the deposition, released Wednesday by the Judiciary Committee along with a video of the hearing.
This meant Smith was unable to answer most questions on that case and the deposition -- intended to ask questions about the alleged weaponization of the DOJ against Trump and his allies -- mainly focused on the 2020 election case instead.
Smith's counsel said the DOJ also refused to send a lawyer to advise Smith on whether his statements were in line with their determination of what he could or could not say regarding the cases, according to the deposition. Smith did say, however, that Trump "obstructed" the classified documents investigation "to conceal his continued retention of those documents."
Trump repeatedly denied the allegations in both felony cases, which were unprecedented against an American president, and decried them as part of a "witch hunt." Smith, one of Trump's frequent targets on social media, ultimately dropped the cases after Trump's reelection because he said that he was constitutionally prohibited from prosecuting a sitting president.
Smith asserted in his final report that "but for Mr. Trump's election and imminent return to the Presidency, the Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial."
During the deposition, Smith argued, as he had in the past, that Trump "President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power."
When asked if Trump was responsible for the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, Smith said "Our view of the evidence was that he caused it and that he exploited it and that it was foreseeable to him."
Smith argued that Trump's claims that he won the 2020 election were not protected free speech because they were intended to target a government function.
"There is no historical analog for what President Trump did in this case. As we said in the indictment, he was free to say that he thought he won the election. He was even free to say falsely that he won the election," Smith said. "But what he was not free to do was violate Federal law and use knowing -- knowingly false statements about election fraud to target a lawful government function. That he was not allowed to do. And that differentiates this case from any past history."
And Smith said Trump wrote a tweet that "without question in my mind endangered the life of his own Vice President" during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Smith said several witnesses who said they voted or campaigned for Trump -- including the Speaker of the House in Arizona and Speaker of the House in Michigan -- were the foundation of the case.
"We had an elector in Pennsylvania who is a former Congressman who was going to be an elector for President Trump who said that what they were trying to do was an attempt to overthrow the government and illegal. Our case was built on, frankly, Republicans who put their allegiance to the country before the party," Smith said.
Asked why Smith did not charge any of the alleged co-conspirators, Smith said "As we stated in the final report, we analyzed the evidence against different co-conspirators. We -- my staff determined that we did have evidence to charge people at a certain point in time. I had not made final determinations about that at the time that President Trump won reelection, meaning that our office was going to be closed down."
Smith said he had evidence that Trump ordered the alleged co-conspirators to place phone calls to senators the night of Jan. 6 to try and delay the certification vote.
The committee pressed Smith why he did not speak with Trump allies Steve Bannon, Roger Stone or Peter Navarro as part of their investigation.
"We pursued the investigative routes that we thought were the most fruitful," Smith argued. "I didn't think it would be fruitful to try to question them."
And they pressed him on seizing phones of members of Congress. Smith said only Scott Perry had his phone seized and no senators did.
"I don't recall that," Smith said when asked if he wanted a search warrant for the content of any text messages from members of Congress.
Smith said he just wanted toll records and confirmed that he approved the subpoenas.
"If Donald Trump had chosen to call a number of Democratic Senators, we would have gotten toll records for Democratic Senators. So responsibility for why these records, why we collected them, that's -- that lies with Donald Trump," Smith said.
Smith recalled that Jim Jordan, the Judiciary Committee chair, was in direct contact with White House on Jan. 6, according to an interview his team conducted with Mark Meadows.
Meadows stated that Jordan was scared. "I've never seen Jim Jordan scared of anything," Meadows said, according to Smith.
Smith said he is "eyes wide open" that he believes Trump will seek retribution against him.
"I came here. I was asked to come here," he added.
