Senate Republicans expressed anger toward former Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith, who led two federal investigations into Donald Trump during the Biden administration.
Smith was appointed as special counsel while Trump was preparing a second bid to return to the White House.
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee objected to Smith obtaining campaign finance records during the investigations. They have also questioned why Smith's office obtained personal cellphone records from eight Republican senators. The committee said the FBI sought and obtained data on the senators' phone use from Jan. 4-7, 2021, in 2023.
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Over the summer, the House Judiciary Committee sent a criminal referral to the Trump administration seeking Smith's prosecution for allegedly providing false testimony to Congress about phone records obtained by his office.
The committee alleged Smith lied about whether investigators had access to the content of privileged text messages belonging to members of Congress.
Smith responded to the possibility of being charged by the Justice Department.
"I stand by my testimony before the House of Representatives," Smith said. "I will not be silenced by the continued threats of prosecution from the president or others."
Sen. Chuck Grassley claimed Smith was targeting more than just Trump, accusing him of going after Republican members of Congress.
Smith brought two separate criminal cases against Trump, but both were dropped after Trump won the November 2024 election. One case alleged Trump mishandled classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The other accused him of attempting to interfere with the 2020 election.
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Smith told lawmakers his office could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump committed federal offenses.
"I made those decisions without regard to President Trump's political association, activities, beliefs or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election," Smith said. "Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation. If asked whether to prosecute a former president today based on the same facts, I would do so regardless of whether that president was a Republican or a Democrat."
The Justice Department has long maintained that a sitting president cannot be indicted or prosecuted. Both cases ended before Trump returned to office, and Smith later resigned as special counsel.
