Breaking News · Published September 29, 2026, 12:21 PM CT · Updated 1:20 PM CT
Key Facts
- Who: Jack Smith, the former special counsel who brought two federal criminal cases against Donald Trump.
- Where: the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, on Tuesday, September 29.[1]
- His message: he stands by the charges and “will not be silenced” by threats of prosecution.[2]
- The fight: Republicans pressed him over subpoenas for GOP lawmakers’ phone records, and several called him names.[2]
- The backdrop: the Justice Department is pursuing people who worked on the Trump investigations.[1]
Jack Smith walked into a Senate hearing room on Tuesday knowing that some of the people questioning him want him prosecuted.
He didn’t back down.
“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation,” the former special counsel told the Senate Judiciary Committee in his opening statement.[1]
Trump has said he did nothing wrong. Both of Smith’s cases against him were dropped after Trump won the 2024 election.[1][2]
“I stand by my testimony before the House of Representatives. I will not be silenced by the continued threats of prosecution from the president or others.”
Jack Smith, to the Senate Judiciary Committee[2]
Video: C-SPAN, September 29, 2026 — “Jack Smith Opening Statement: ‘I will not be silenced.’”
The Cases He Came to Defend
Smith was appointed special counsel by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland. He led two investigations of Trump.[2]
- The election case: Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 loss, leading up to the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
- The documents case: classified records kept at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after he left office.
Smith dropped both after Trump’s 2024 win. He cited Justice Department opinions that a sitting president can’t be federally indicted.[2]
He told senators that politics played no part in his decisions.
“The status, power, prominence, or political affiliation of the subject of an investigation must play no role in the decision to investigate, prosecute, or decline to prosecute,” he said.[1]
Smith has said before that he believes a jury would have convicted Trump in the election case. His final report said Trump “inspired his supporters to commit acts of physical violence” at the Capitol.[1]
Trump pleaded not guilty. After returning to office, he gave January 6 defendants mass clemency.[1]
The Phone Records Fight
Much of the hearing was about phone records.
Smith’s prosecutors subpoenaed the records of several Republican members of Congress whom Trump or his aides contacted on January 6, 2021. These were “toll records.” They show the date, time and length of a call, but not what was said.[2]
Several Republicans said this broke the Constitution’s “speech and debate” protection for lawmakers. Smith denied it. He said the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section had approved the subpoenas.[2]
He said the records were powerful “corroborating evidence.” They showed, he said, that Trump’s side tried to use the violence of that day to delay certifying Joe Biden’s win.[2]
“They were taking the fact that law enforcement officers had been assaulted at this institution and using that to seek to delay the proceedings further in violation of the law,” Smith said.[2]
In July, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, referred Smith to the Justice Department for possible prosecution. Jordan claims Smith lied about the records at an earlier hearing. Smith’s lawyers say his answers were “truthful” and responsive.[1][2]
Insults From the Dais
The hearing quickly turned personal.[1]
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., asked Smith whether he believed in the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny. He ended his questioning with: “You make me want to throw up in my mouth.”[2]
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., accused Smith of flying to Atlanta in February 2024 to attend a Hawks NBA game. That was while Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was running her own case against Trump. Smith said he had never made that trip.[1][2]
Schmitt suggested that Smith had committed perjury.
But the game Smith actually went to was an Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball game in Maryland. Schmitt seemed to have mixed up the teams.[2]
He didn’t back off. “You will go down as a total dirtbag,” Schmitt told him. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said Schmitt owed Smith an apology. He didn’t give one.[1][2]
Video: C-SPAN, September 29, 2026 — “Sen. Schmitt confuses Hawks and Hawkeyes while accusing Jack Smith of perjury.”
Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, made the Republican case. “Jack Smith’s corrupt operation undermined the rule of law and threatened our very political institutions,” he said.[1]
Democrats: “Petty, Personal and Political”
Democrats rallied to Smith’s side.[2]
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the committee’s top Democrat, said Republicans were spreading “baseless conspiracy theories” to “whitewash” the history of January 6.[2]
“The aspersions cast on Mr. Smith, nonstop, are petty, personal and political,” Durbin said. “They are nothing but a smoke screen to distract from the president’s own clear, unlawful conduct.”[2]
Video: C-SPAN, September 29, 2026 — “Durbin: GOP probe of Smith ‘petty, personal and political.’”
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said the law enforcement officers who worked on the cases were fired for doing their jobs.[1]
“This is an eight-year attempt to lie to the American people,” Booker said, “and this is their closing argument, everybody, right before an election.”[1]
Why It Matters Now
This hearing wasn’t only about the past.
Smith told senators the firings of his team were something he had “never seen anything remotely like” under any administration, Republican or Democratic. He said they cost the government crucial expertise and made the country less safe.[2]
The Trump administration opened a so-called “grand conspiracy” investigation last year. It looks at actions by federal law enforcement going back to 2016.[1]
Joe diGenova, who led that investigation, left the Justice Department this month. Last week, defense lawyers told a court the department appears interested in the 2022 FBI search of Mar-a-Lago.[1]
There was one thing Smith could not discuss. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, ordered that his report on the documents case can’t be released. The Justice Department says answering questions about it would break her order.[1]
Where It Happened
The hearing was held at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[2]
The pin marks Washington as named in the report, not an exact address. Map data: OpenStreetMap contributors.
How Five Outlets Are Reporting It
- Jack Smith tells senators he won’t be silenced by threats from Trump and allies (NBC News)
- Jack Smith, Former Special Counsel Who Charged Trump, Appears Before Congress: Live Updates (The New York Times)
- Jack Smith clashes with senators over Trump probes, says he will not be silenced (The Washington Post)
- Ex-special counsel Smith tells senators he won't 'be silenced' by Trump's threats of prosecution (AP News)
- Live updates: Jack Smith testifies at Senate Judiciary; Donald Trump rolls out America.gov (The Hill)
How to Verify This Yourself
Watch the hearing yourself. C-SPAN posted Smith’s opening statement and key exchanges on its YouTube channel, and CNN posted the full hearing. Each headline in the list above links to that outlet’s own report.
References
- Ryan J. Reilly and Justin Goldman, NBC News (September 29, 2026, updated 11:30 AM CDT). Jack Smith defends Trump probes in Senate hearing filled with GOP insults. ↩
- Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer, Associated Press (September 29, 2026, updated 11:57 AM CDT). Ex-special counsel Smith tells senators he won’t ‘be silenced’ by Trump’s threats of prosecution. ↩
Investigative methodology: this story was picked automatically at 12:21 PM CT on September 29, 2026, because five news organizations were reporting it at once. It was rewritten by hand at 1:20 PM CT from the full NBC News and AP reports. Every quote is taken word for word from those reports, and the videos are C-SPAN’s hearing footage. The featured photo is a public-domain 2023 U.S. Justice Department image of Smith.
Kemetic Minds Editorial Desk
Verified NewsroomPrimary-sourced investigative intelligence on civil rights, voting rights, federal policy, and consumer protection. Sourced from primary legal filings, government statistics, and direct field reporting.