Former special counsel Jack Smith is set to face off against the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, and already legal experts are warning that there will be "fireworks."
Speaking to CNN ahead of the hearing, legal analyst Elliott Williams noted Smith's prepared remarks, released to Politico. The statement stands behind his decision to prosecute Trump and that doing anything else would be “shirk[ing] my duties as a prosecutor and a public servant.”
“I made my decisions without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election,” Smith plans to say. “President Trump was charged because the evidence established that he willfully broke the very laws that he took an oath to uphold.”
Williams said that this hearing is another example of relitigating the 2020 election and the investigations into Trump. The two parties clearly see the matter "very, very differently."
"As we all know now, what is fascinating about all this is that this is a public hearing at all," Williams continued. "You know it, as you might know, as viewers might know, Jack Smith was the one pushing to have the hearing be public, which is quite remarkable. Typically, it is not the witness who wants the public hearing, but Congress that does. So, it can make a big show about it. So expect a lot of fireworks today."
Williams said he'll be listening to how they debate the phone records issue. Smith obtained what is called "toll records," which show a phone number, calls to it, and how long they last. Republicans have complained that they were "wiretapped," which Smith has said is inaccurate. A judge authorized the warrant to obtain the records.
"Now, it is a painfully common tactic in investigations to seek the metadata of information of people who are on the receiving end of phone calls from someone being investigated. There's no secret that Jack Smith was investigating Donald Trump, and he placed calls to senators. Had he called democratic senators, those records would have been swept in as well. Simple to explain, explain," said Williams.
"Now, it's very easy for supporters of the president or, you know, some of the members on Capitol Hill to say that senators were being spied on. That's a talking point that people hear. And that's not quite what happened," Williams clarified. "I'm really looking forward to how aggressively that gets pushed by Republicans, but also how clearly and cleanly Jack Smith can explain."
He noted that the members can have their disagreements with the investigation, but when it comes to the warrant for the toll records, there's "nothing to see here."
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