Former special counsel Jack Smith told Congress on Thursday that if he thought it would have worked to convince the public, President Donald Trump would have promoted the idea that "Martians" stole the 2020 election.
Smith said during his testimony to the House Oversight Committee that he believed overwhelmingly that Trump was responsible for the Jan. 6 attack and that without him there would not have been an attack on the Capitol.
Speaking to the grand jury, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said, "I have told him more times than we can count that he fell short. ... If you told him Martians came and stole votes, he’d be inclined to believe it."
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calf.), who previously sat on the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6, asked "What does that tell you about Trump's state of mind?"
Smith answered: "That statement is consistent with what was found in our investigation, in that ourinvestigation revealed that Donald Trump was not looking forhonest answers about whether,there was fraud in the election.He was looking for ways to stayin power.
"And when people toldhim, things that conflicted withhim staying in power, herejected them, or he chose noteven to contact people likethat, who would know if theelection was done properly inthe state? On the other hand,when individuals, would saythings that would allow him tostay in power no matter howfantastical he would latch on tothose. That pattern, over time,we felt, was powerful evidencethat he, in fact, knew that the fraud claims were making were false," he continued.
Lofgren initially noted that the overwhelming majority of people who testified in the Jan. 6 case were Republicans. She asked Smith if he would name them.
"They ranged frompeople on his campaign team whohad, wanted him to win, wereemployed to help him win theelection. They included stateofficials, state Republicanofficials who, wanted him towin, voted for him, campaignedfor him, asked him to provide,asked him and his coconspiratorsto provide evidence to supporttheir claims. And invariably,they never did it includedofficials, advisers, people heworked with in the White House who he relied upon for importantdecisions and who he trusted inother contexts. We felt we hadstrong evidence from a varietyof sources," Smith said.