The House Judiciary Committee released a redacted 255-page transcript of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Dec. 17 deposition, in which he spent nine hours describing probes into efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Smith said his office found proof beyond a reasonable doubt that a criminal scheme sought to prevent the lawful transfer of power and that investigators uncovered strong evidence that Trump willfully retained classified materials. He stressed his nearly 30-year nonpartisan prosecutorial career, said he would prosecute a former president on the same facts regardless of party, and warned against politicizing the Justice Department.
House Judiciary Publishes Redacted 255‑Page Transcript of Jack Smith’s Deposition
Jack Smith
The House Judiciary Committee has posted a redacted, 255-page transcript of former Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith’s closed-door deposition, making his Dec. 17 testimony publicly available with certain portions withheld by court order.
Smith testified for nine hours about two high-profile investigations: efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and the retention of classified materials at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. His opening statement, included in the released transcript and previously reported by the Associated Press, said his office “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power.” He also said investigators found “powerful evidence” that Trump willfully retained highly classified documents and attempted to obstruct justice to conceal them.
Context and limits: Criminal charges were filed in both matters, but longstanding DOJ policy against indicting a sitting president prevented prosecuting Trump while in office. Smith was restricted from discussing nonpublic elements of the classified-documents probe by an order from Judge Aileen Cannon, which the transcript notes constrained parts of his testimony.
Smith emphasized his long record as a nonpartisan career prosecutor, saying he had served “for nearly three decades” under both Republican and Democratic administrations and that he made investigatory decisions “without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 Presidential election.” He added, "If asked whether to prosecute a former President based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether that President was a Republican or a Democrat."
Smith also described his reaction to actions taken against career DOJ staff, saying he was "both saddened and angered" that some prosecutors, FBI agents and support personnel were vilified or removed from their jobs after working on these matters. He called those public servants “the best of us.”
On politicizing the Justice Department:
Smith warned against a return to a patronage system that rewards political loyalty over merit. He said such practices invite corruption and incompetence and erode the institutional knowledge and mentorship that sustain the Justice Department’s work across administrations.
Smith’s legal team had pressed the GOP-led committee to make his testimony public. On Dec. 24, his counsel asked Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R‑OH) to promptly release the full videotape of the deposition. The committee’s transcript release makes Smith’s closed-door remarks available to the public, though redactions remain where the court has shielded ongoing investigatory details.
Read the redacted transcript: The committee has posted the document online. This article has been updated with additional information.
