On December 17, 2025, former Special Counsel Jack Smith appeared on Capitol Hill to deliver testimony during a closed-door hearing before the House Judiciary Committee as Republicans continue to dig deep into what they and many other conservatives believe were politically motivated prosecutions of President Donald Trump.
As he arrived for the deposition, Smith was greeted by members of the press, but he refused to answer any questions. Fox News reporter Bill Melugin made an attempt to question him outside the Capitol Building. “Do you have any regrets about the way your prosecutions with the president were handled? What do you plan to tell the committee?” Melugin went on to ask Smith.
The former special counsel ignored Melugin’s question, along with others from reporters with other outlets and publications. At one point during the encounter, a voice was heard yelling out, “How about you respond, Jack!” Smith used his testimony before the committee to offer up a defense of the work he did as special counsel and the cases he brought against Trump.
“The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions, as alleged in the indictments returned by grand juries in two different districts,” Smith said, according to Trending Politics News.
Smith was appointed as special counsel in 2022 by former Attorney General Merrick Garland, the day following Trump’s announcement that he would be making another run for the White House in 2024. In August 2022, federal agents conducted a raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
The following year, Smith brought charges against then-candidate Trump composed of 37 counts connected to the handling of presidential records at Mar-a-Lago. The indictment against Trump included 31 counts under the Espionage Act for willful retention of national defense information and six process-related charges connected to communications with his attorney.
Smith brought a different case against Trump in D.C., charging him with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. Much to the special counsel’s chagrin, both cases were eventually tossed out.
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In October 2025, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), joined by several other GOP senators and one House member, fired off a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi referring Smith to the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility. The letter leveled accusations against Smith of professional misconduct. Additionally, the letter was sent to two state bar associations.
“As part of Jack Smith’s weaponized witch hunt, the Biden DOJ issued subpoenas to several telecommunications companies in 2023 regarding our cell phone records, gaining access to the time, recipient, duration, and location of calls placed on our devices from January 4, 2021, to January 7, 2021,” the letter went on to say. “We have yet to learn of any legal predicate for the Biden Department of Justice issuing subpoenas to obtain these cell phone records.”
The referral came after reports emerged that Smith’s office obtained phone metadata for several Republican lawmakers, who stated that they were not notified of the collection effort, nor had they consented to having their information collected.
Featured image: screenshot from embedded video