Former special counsel Jack Smith appeared last week in a closed-door hearing with the House Judiciary Committee. However, one legal expert said that the committee had no logical reason for keeping the testimony from the public.
Former federal prosecutor and Michigan University Law School Professor Barbara McQuade agreed that the committee's efforts to keep Smith's comments secret are nothing more than an effort to "hide things." Smith had insisted that he appear in public.
"Morning Joe" co-host Jonathan Lemier asked whether it was anything other than an attempt to "make Donald Trump look better."
Smith pledged to present his full case to the public in the committee interview.
McQuade told MS NOW that one way Congress could promote transparency is by releasing the transcript of the closed-door interview.
"You know, if this Justice Department wants to be the most transparent in the history of the country, well, let's see it then let's see it then," McQuade said simply. "What are they afraid of?"
She thinks the real danger of what Smith said under oath is that he doesn't cherry pick from the information to protect Republicans. He tells the whole truth.
"He did give a very powerful opening statement, in which he said he believed that he had amassed evidence sufficient to convict Donald Trump beyond a reasonable doubt," McQuade explained. "Let's see what some of that evidence is. If they put hard questions to him, let's see his answers to those hard questions. Whenever we do things behind closed doors, there needs to be a good reason."
Some of those reasons might be to protect national security, or intelligence sources and methods.
"Simply protecting individuals from embarrassment or other things in a completed investigation, there's just no basis for it," concluded McQuade. "Let's release that transcript or have the Senate call Jack Smith to testify in person, where people can see the whole story for themselves."
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