“Trump engaged in a criminal scheme”: The prosecutor in Trump’s Florida case slams Trump for leading criminal plot
Florida – Newly released congressional records give the public more information about how former Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith saw Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property, which is also known as the Trump’s Florida case. Smith said that Trump’s behavior showed a pattern of repeated attempts to obstruct justice.
Smith gave this information to the House Judiciary Committee in private on December 17, 2017, for about eight hours. The Republican-led committee made the whole transcript and video public on Wednesday, weeks after the appearance had been kept secret. The publication has given the public the most extensive look yet at Smith’s thoughts while he was in charge of two major FBI investigations against Trump.
Smith explained during the deposition how his agency came to the conclusion that Trump intentionally kept classified government records after leaving the White House in January 2021. Smith said that investigators recovered highly confidential materials at Trump’s private club in Florida, including in places like a bathroom and a ballroom. Smith told legislators that Trump was fully aware he no longer had the right to keep the materials.
Smith claimed that the investigation went further and found that Trump not only kept the documents but also took steps to keep them from being found. According to Smith, Trump “repeatedly” tried to block justice by hiding the records and refusing to let authorities get them back. He called the evidence that backed up those determinations “powerful,” saying it showed purposeful wrongdoing instead of confusion or oversight.
The former special counsel also talked about the separate investigation looking into attempts to invalidate the 2020 presidential election. Smith told the committee that his team had enough evidence to show “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump was part of a criminal plan to change the outcome of the election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump’s activities were a big part of that endeavor, and they called him the most responsible person in the alleged conspiracy.
Smith strongly disagreed with Republican members who said that the investigations were politically motivated in his testimony. He said that the cases were not meant to hurt Trump’s chances in the 2024 presidential race and that the outcomes were based only on evidence and the law. Smith said that prosecutors have to go after cases when the evidence support them, no matter what the suspect’s political affiliation is.
As part of the investigation into the election, Smith also talked about what happened before and after the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. He said the evidence showed the crimes were committed for Trump’s benefit and that the violence at the Capitol would not have occurred without his actions. Smith’s comments made it clear how closely the investigation linked Trump’s actions to the larger effort to stop the transition of power.
Smith wanted to speak in public, but his hearing before the Judiciary Committee was private. The recently released video and text show that this is his first and only time on Capitol Hill since he left his job as special counsel last January. Their release has shed more light on the reasons for two of the most important Justice Department investigations in recent memory.
Trump was already charged with crimes connected to the confidential materials recovered at Mar-a-Lago and the alleged conspiracy to change the outcome of the 2020 election. But after Trump won the 2024 presidential election, both cases were dropped.
Smith said he dropped the cases because of a long-standing precedent at the Justice Department that says a sitting president can’t be prosecuted. He still said that the evidence supported the allegations.
