Jack Smith: Trump's Legal Woes Explained

Jack Smith, a former special counsel, recently spoke to Congress about his investigations into former President Trump. He made it clear that his decisions were not influenced by Trump's political status or his run for the 2024 election. Smith's team gathered strong evidence suggesting Trump was involved in a scheme to overturn the 2020 election results. They also found compelling evidence that Trump kept classified documents and tried to hide them, which is a big no-no. Smith testified privately to the House Judiciary Committee. He explained that the choice to charge Trump was his, but the reasons behind those charges were all about Trump's actions. The investigations led to two indictments against Trump: one for trying to overturn the 2020 election and another for mishandling classified documents.After Trump won the 2024 election, the Justice Department dropped the election case and gave up on appealing the dismissal of the classified documents case. Trump and his supporters have often accused Smith of targeting Trump for political reasons, but Smith denied this. He stated that he would make the same decisions today, no matter the president's political party. Smith's testimony also aimed to correct some misunderstandings about his work. For instance, he addressed the issue of his office obtaining phone records of some Republican lawmakers. Even though the testimony was private, Smith had to be careful about what he could say, especially regarding grand jury materials, which are kept secret.