Former special counsel Jack Smith testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, to address his federal investigations into Donald Trump. The hearing, led by Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), focused on Smith’s handling of the classified documents case and the investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Smith defended his prosecutorial decisions as nonpartisan and based strictly on evidence, while Republican members of the committee accused him of political bias and abusing his authority.
The testimony followed the release of documents by Grassley regarding Smith's use of subpoenas for the call logs, or "toll records," of a dozen Republican senators. Smith described these as non-content records essential for mapping communications during the January 6 Capitol attack. He stated the records corroborated evidence that Trump and others sought to delay the certification of the election. Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), argued the subpoenas violated the Speech and Debate Clause and their privacy, particularly due to gag orders that prevented them from knowing about the record seizures for years.
During the proceedings, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) questioned Smith about his presence at an Atlanta Hawks basketball game in February 2024, appearing to suggest a connection to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Smith expressed confusion, later clarifying he had attended an Iowa Hawkeyes game. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) suggested Schmitt had confused the two team names. The exchange led to a dispute between Schmitt and committee Democrats regarding the relevance of the questioning.
Smith also defended his former staff members, many of whom were dismissed from the Justice Department (DOJ) after Trump took office. He stated it was unprecedented for experts in national security and corruption to be fired based on the cases they were assigned to investigate. When asked by Cruz if he had regrets, Smith said he regretted that his team had been "unfairly fired and vilified." He also mentioned that had his cases proceeded to trial, he likely would have called Republican witnesses to testify.
The outcome of this investigation and the subsequent congressional scrutiny impact the legal protections afforded to federal lawmakers under the Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution. A provision recently included in a government funding bill would allow senators to sue the federal government for $500,000 or more if their electronic records are seized without notification. While Sen. Lindsey Graham has stated he will seek remedies through the court system to ensure such seizures are "painful" for the government to repeat, other senators, including Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), have stated they will not seek monetary damages.
The long-term impact involves the precedent for how future administrations handle career DOJ employees who lead investigations into political figures. Smith noted that the firing of his staff for their work on specific cases is a departure from historical norms. Moving forward, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on a bill to repeal the $500,000 payout provision, a move that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) says has bipartisan support. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans have indicated that the option to recommend Smith for perjury investigations remains under consideration.