Defiant Jack Smith 'not afraid' of Trump ahead of televised testimony

Former U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith arrives for a closed-door deposition on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 17, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt.

Former Department of Justice (DOJ) special counsel Jack Smith recently told reporters he's "not afraid" of President Donald Trump as he prepares for a televised testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.

CNN reported Wednesday that Smith's remarks come as he prepares to address the committee for the second time in two months, where he will answer questions from the GOP-controlled committee while under oath. His first testimony in late December was behind closed doors, and lasted for roughly eight hours.

As Smith prepares to testify, the Trump administration is hard at work attempting to prevent its own DOJ from releasing a new batch of files that have not yet been made public. The Daily Beast reported Wednesday that Trump's personal lawyers filed a 19-page motion in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, asking a judge to prevent the release of the second volume of Smith's final report due to it allegedly containing information pertaining to sensitive grand jury proceedings and information protected by attorney-client privilege.

Smith will be testifying about his two criminal investigations into Trump, which were dismissed after Trump was elected to a second term in 2024. The two criminal indictments — which were unprecedented for a former U.S. president – were for allegedly mishandling classified documents and for attempting to overturn the result of the 2020 election.

The former special counsel voluntarily asked for dismissal of the election interference case, and U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon (who Trump appointed to the bench in 2020) dismissed the classified documents case, claiming that Smith wasn't duly appointed as special counsel since he wasn't confirmed by the full U.S. Senate. However, her conclusion ignored that several special counsels appointed under both Democratic and Republican administrations had their investigations respected despite never having been confirmed by the Senate.

CNN reported that Smith had the opportunity to take the Fifth Amendment ahead of his testimony before Congress but refused, saying he welcomes the opportunity to discuss his work at the DOJ concerning his two investigations into Trump. Republicans on the committee, which is led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), have already made a criminal referral to the DOJ asking the administration to investigate former Smith prosecutor Thomas Windom, who led the election interference case, for the way he answered the committee's questions. Former Smith prosecutor Jay Bratt asserted his own Fifth Amendment rights rather than testify before the committee.

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