Jack Smith defends handling of Trump probes at heated Senate hearing

• What: Jack Smith testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee
• Date: Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026
• Time: 9 a.m. ET
• Location: Capitol Hill
• Online stream: Live on CBS News

Smith is expected to defend his work on the dual Trump investigations, according to a copy of his opening remarks obtained by CBS News.

“I stand by my decisions as Special Counsel, including my decision to bring charges against President Trump. I made these decisions without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election,” Smith is expected to say in his opening remarks. “Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity. If asked whether to prosecute a former President based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether that President was a Republican or a Democrat.”

Smith is also expected to defend himself against Mr. Trump’s continued public statements calling for charges to be brought against him.

“I will not be silenced by the continued threats of prosecution from the President or others,” Smith is expected to say, adding that “it is my belief that the rule of law faces challenges unlike any we have experienced in our lifetime.”

“Individuals are threatened with criminal investigation because they are perceived to have opposed the President. Predetermined outcomes increasingly seem to take precedence over the Justice Department’s long-standing core values, traditions, and norm,” Smith’s prepared opening remarks read. “History teaches that the rule of law is rarely destroyed all at once. It is often weakened by attacks on the institutions and public servants sworn to uphold it.”

Smith has sat down to answer lawmakers’ questions about the cases involving Mr. Trump twice before. In December, he testified for more than eight hours during a closed-door deposition before the House Judiciary Committee.

During that deposition, Smith was asked about subpoenas his team issued for toll records for certain members of Congress. He told the committee that he did not seek a search warrant for the content of text messages from lawmakers, only the toll records.

But Republicans have accused Smith of lying during his appearance because of information revealed by the Senate Judiciary Committee in July.

The Justice Department provided documents to the Senate committee that showed Smith’s team had sought and obtained text messages from the National Archives and Records Administration, which included messages from 44 members of Congress — Republicans and Democrats.

Smith addressed his decision to analyze Republicans’ phone records in January, when he appeared before the panel in a public setting.

“The conspiracy that we were investigating, it was relevant to get toll records to understand the scope of that conspiracy, who they were seeking to coerce, who they were seeking, to influence who was seeking to help them,” Smith said.

He said securing the phone records, which only contained data about the calls and not their contents, is “common practice” in complex investigations.

During that hearing, Smith also defended his handling of the investigations involving Mr. Trump and told House members he pursued the unprecedented charges against the president “because the evidence established that he willfully broke the law — the very laws he took an oath to uphold.”

One topic that Smith will be unlikely to comment on Tuesday will be his final report detailing his investigation into Mr. Trump’s alleged mishandling of sensitive government documents and alleged obstruction of the ensuing federal probe.

In February, a federal judge permanently blocked the Justice Department from releasing that portion of his report, granting a request from Mr. Trump and two of his former co-defendants in the case against him, Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliviera, to prohibit the release of the second volume of Smith’s report. That order barred then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, or any of her successors, from releasing or sharing that portion of the report.

During Smith’s closed-door testimony last year, Smith’s legal team said their client was barred from discussing that portion of the report, or any drafts of it, unless the information was already made public through other means.

Smith is frequently targeted by Mr. Trump, who lobs insults at the former special counsel and has said he should be criminally prosecuted.

The president has called Smith “deranged,” a “thug” and a “sleazebag.” Following Smith’s January testimony, Mr. Trump said he should be “prosecuted for his actions.” The president claimed the former special counsel “committed large scale perjury.”

The Justice Department under Mr. Trump has pursued investigations into several of the president’s perceived political enemies, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. But criminal cases brought against the two were dismissed last year. Comey was indicted for a second time in April over a photo he posted to Instagram that showed seashells arranged on the beach to form the numbers “86 47.” 

Comey has denied wrongdoing and is seeking to have the indictment tossed out on numerous grounds.

Before the start of Mr. Trump’s second term on Jan. 20, 2026 — and following some 11th-hour legal maneuvering — a portion of Smith’s final report detailing his investigations was made public.

Smith wrote in the first volume of his report, which focused on the 2020 election case, that “[b]ut 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.”

The former special counsel also rejected accusations his actions were influenced by the top ranks of the Justice Department under then-President Joe Biden and called the claim that the Biden administration directed his actions “laughable.”

“The throughline of all of Mr. Trump’s criminal efforts was deceit — knowingly false claims of election,” Smith said in his report.

The president continues to claim without evidence that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against him and has said repeatedly that he won that contest against Biden in a landslide.

But dozens of lawsuits challenging the election results in key battleground states in 2020 were dismissed by federal judges appointed by Republican and Democratic presidents. And while Mr. Trump has been in office more than 18 months, his administration has yet to put forth evidence that he defeated Biden.