A (3:29)

Then Special counsel Jack Smith says, I just want to let everybody know I'm not going to be intimidated by Donald Trump. I am not going to be intimidated by these threats. I am someone of high integrity and they could threaten me all they want. I'm not backing down those people who.

C (3:46)

Try to hold him accountable. In August 2020, right after your office indicted him, President Trump shared that playbook on social media for everyone to see. He wrote, if you go after me, I'm coming for you. Trump has said that you, Mr. Smith, should be investigated and put in prison. He called you a disgrace to humanity, a radical left, Marxist, a criminal. In fact, Trump has used the words deranged Jack Smith 185 times on truth social media. How do you think that these statements have impacted you, your staff and your investigation?

B (4:28)

With respect to me, I think the reports, I'm sorry, the statements are meant to intimidate me. I will not be intimidated. I think these statements are also made as a warning to others what will happen if they stand up. And I am, as I say, I'm not going to be intimidated. We did our work pursuant to department policy. We followed the facts and we followed the law. And that process resulted in proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed serious crimes. I'm not going to pretend that didn't happen because he's threatening me.

A (5:04)

More from Special counsel Jack Smith here. And he talks about how Donald Trump pardoning or granting clemency to these January 6th insurrectionists. It was obvious that these people were going to commit more crimes. They're criminals, they're bad people. And so Jack Smith says it's reasonable to believe that they'll commit more crimes than they already are. Here, play this clip.

D (5:27)

As a prosecutor, can you describe why these pardons make our communities less safe.

B (5:34)

And undermine our criminal legal system more broadly? The people, the, the people who assaulted police officers and were convicted after trial, in my view, and I think in the view of the judges who sentenced them to prison, are dangerous to their community. As you've mentioned, some of these people have already committed crimes against their communities again. And I think all of us, if we're reasonable, know that there's going to be more crimes committed to by these people in the future. I do not understand why you would mass pardon people who assaulted police officers. I don't get it. I never will.

A (6:20)

Then you have Democratic Congressmember Jared Moskowitz talking about what hypocrites the MAGA Republicans are for now, trying to pretend like January 6th, you know, was just this peaceful day and what actually happened on January 6th. And so Congressmember Moskowitz reads the statements that were made on or around January 6th by Jim Jordan and Ted Cruz and Chip Roy and others. Here, play this clip.

E (6:46)

I hate talking about the present, but you know what? Let's talk about the past real quick. Here are some quotes. Because I heard one of my colleagues call you a hypocrite. Here are some quotes from my colleagues. Chairman Jordan, right after January 6th, stop the violence. Support Capitol Police Ted Cruz. Those storming the Capitol need to stop right now. The Constitution protects, but not violence. Chip Roy. Today the People's House was attacked, which is an attack on the Republic itself. Steve Scalise, United States Capitol Police saved my life. Lindsey Graham. When it comes to accountability, the President needs to understand his actions were the problem. Troy Nels. Oh, my God, him again. I'm happy to stand shoulder to shoulder with Capitol Police Darrell Issa. The violence and turmoil we witnessed in Washington, D.C. was completely unacceptable. Rep. McClintock, the attack on Capitol strikes, the most sacred act of our democracy. And former speaker of the house Kevin McCarthy, whose name we heard a lot today. What did he have to say about it? Let me be clear. Last week's violence, attack on the Capitol was undemocratic, un American and criminal. And make no mistake, those who were responsible should be brought to justice. The President bears responsibility, period. Or exclamation point.

A (7:55)

More from Congressmember Moskowitz right here about how, you know, these MAGA Republicans sure love to talk about, you know, Hunter Biden and Covid and Barack Obama. Um, but, you know, it seems like they love talking about the past and maybe that's why they're trying to inflict this. They're trying to reenact a civil war. Now here, play this clip.

E (8:15)

I mean, it's just pathetic. But, you know, my colleagues love the past. Mr. Smith, love the past. That's why you're here before Pam Bondi. Okay, we haven't had the Attorney General here. We didn't have her last year. She's the Only one in the Cabinet to not come and committee a reference. But they love the past. Oh, they love talking about January 6th and Hunter Biden and Covid and Barack Obama and Hillary's emails. They love the past. These people love the past so much, they're still reenacting the Civil War. Okay, love the past, but hate talking about the present.

A (8:50)

Then you had MAGA Republican Troy Nels attack the January 6th police officers. And many of those police officers were there in Congress today. And you'll see Mike Fanon is like, go f yourself as Troy Nels blames the insurrection on the police officers. Here, play this clip or that is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the.

E (9:13)

Crap you were shoveling did not pass the smell test with the American people.

A (9:18)

To put it bluntly, Mr. Smith, the.

E (9:21)

Stink remains on you. And lastly, I would like to quickly address the police officers of January 6th.

A (9:29)

Mr. Don, Mr. Fanon, Mr. Gonell, Mr. Hodges. I'm a member of the new select.

E (9:36)

Committee to actually examine, actually examine what happened that day. And I can tell you, gentlemen that the fault does not lie with Donald Trump. It lies with Yogananda Pittman and the.

A (9:49)

U.S. capitol leadership team.

E (9:52)

We know. We know they had the intelligence and.

A (9:57)

There was going to be a high.

E (9:59)

Propensity for violence that day. Claim my time. Yeah, he will be in order.

A (10:03)

The time belongs to the gentleman from Texas.

B (10:06)

We've had some disruptions already. We don't need that. Let the gentleman.

A (10:09)

The gentleman may continue. Then you have Democratic Congressmember Ross telling MAGA Republican Jim Jordan, let's enter your statements into the record. Please play this clip.

C (10:19)

And the second one is a unanimous.

B (10:22)

Consent to enter into their record an.

C (10:24)

Interview from March 2024 on the Capitol Hill show in which you called on those who attacked the Capitol on January 6th to be, quote, held accountable because, quote, that's the way our system does work and should work.

E (10:41)

Objection.

C (10:42)

Thank you very much, James.

A (10:43)

You have Democratic Congressmember Ballant here. Let's play it.

C (10:46)

Trump has said that you, Mr. Smith, should be investigated and put in prison. He called you a disgrace to humanity, a radical left, Marxist, a criminal. In fact, Trump has used the words deranged Jack Smith 185 times on truth Social. How do you think that these statements have impacted you, your staff, and your investigation?

B (11:14)

With respect to me, I think the reports. I'm sorry, the statements are meant to intimidate me. I will not be intimidated. I think these statements are also made as a warning to others what will happen if they stand up. And I am as I say I'm not going to be intimidated. We did our work pursuant to department policy. We followed the facts and we followed the law. And that process resulted in proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed serious crimes. I'm not going to pretend that didn't happen because he's threatening me.

C (11:50)

And Mr. Smith, do you believe that President Trump's Department of Justice will find some way to. To indict you?

B (12:00)

I believe they will do everything in their power to do that because they've been ordered to by the president.

C (12:07)

That's very concerning, obviously. It's very concerning to all of us, at least on this side of the aisle. This is Trump's playbook at work. Complain loudly, gin up hatred and resentment, then express our hope that somebody will do something, but never explicitly order anyone to act, and then watch as his followers and loyalists go after their targets. This is what happened on January 6th. Trump stood at the Ellipse and gave a campaign speech to his supporters. And he said, if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore. And I think it's clear that his intimidation will stop at nothing.

A (12:45)

Maga, Republican Congressmember Van Drew just starts, like, yelling at Jack Smith, like, unhinged. Here, play this clip.

B (12:53)

Because there's so much, Mr. Smith, there really is, but it isn't. What I do know is it's much more than how much people like or hate you or like or hate Donald Trump or like or hate Republicans or like or hate Democrats. This is about the system. It's about what the Department of Justice did. It's about what you did. The core of the hearing is all about, can Americans still trust the justice system? Is it fair? Was it fair under you and all? They expect. They don't expect you to be perfect, but they expect you to treat everyone the same, Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives. But that wasn't the case. When you treat people differently because of their political status, their political party, their ideals, that's hypocrisy. And I'm sorry to say, and I don't say it lightly, I do consider you to be a hypocrite.

A (13:52)

Now, Jamie Raskin, and he's the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. That's where this was all taking place. Here he uses his time to talk about how you can't claim First Amendment protections like Donald Trump is trying to. When you use speech to commit crimes, like, all crimes involve words of some sort, right? And you can't be like, oh, I've got a First Amendment right. Cause it was speaking. Yeah, but if you engage in a crime that's not protected. Here, play this clip.

D (14:18)

Let's go to something else that I've been hearing over the last week by our colleagues. As they've eagerly anticipated your arrival here, they've been saying that there's some kind of First Amendment defense that Donald Trump would have had to the crimes you indicted him for. Is there a valid First Amendment defense to defrauding the public? Is there a valid First Amendment defense to disrupting a federal proceeding? Is there a valid First Amendment defense to violating the voting rights of the people and cheating the public out of a fair election?

B (14:58)

The First Amendment is something that we took seriously in our investigation. But the First Amendment does not protect speech that facilitates a crime. Speech that is used to facilitate a crime, a fraud crime in particular, is not protected under the First Amendment. The Supreme Court precedent on that is clear. This is an issue that we litigated before the district court, and the district court ruled, as I just stated, that it is not, in fact, protected.

D (15:28)

And the case law is perfectly clear on this. All frauds are perpetrated by speech, right?

B (15:33)

Yes.

D (15:34)

All conspiracies are perpetrated by speech. So just because your criminal conduct is brigaded with speech doesn't somehow mean you've got a First Amendment defense against trying to overthrow the government. I mean, the people who attacked the police officers on January 6 were chanting, Hang Mike Pence. I suppose that was political speech. Or they were saying, stop the steal. Does that mean they've got a First Amendment defense to violent assault against the officers?

B (16:01)

It does not.

A (16:02)

Then you have Congressmember Eric Swalwell, who's also running for governor of California. Here's what he said.

D (16:07)

Mr. Smith, I want you to have the utmost confidence in what you did. You did everything right. Harry Dunn, Danny Hodges, Sergeant Gano, Mike Fanon. They did everything right. These guys, my Republican colleagues, are a joke. They're wrong. History will harshly judge them. So I want you to lean in today. You have nothing to be ashamed of. You did everything right, sir. And I am so. These guys are so lucky they're not under oath, because they would have to tell you what they really think of Trump. They call him crooked. They call him cruel. They call him a scumbag. I've heard you all say it. You're lucky you're not under Trump. But when the lights go on and the cameras are on, you're tiny. You're small. You shrink. Everyone remembers Matt Gaetz coming over here after a committee hearing, he would laugh at how stupid he thought Trump was. This is all a show. And, Mr. Smith, you're just the latest act that they've brought in. But they can't erase what happened on January 6th because we saw it with our own eyes.

A (17:15)

Democratic Congressmember Cohen to Jack Smith. Let's play it. Did Merrick Garland ever pressure you to.

D (17:21)

Bring it, to bring an indictment or.

A (17:22)

To do anything in your investigation?

D (17:25)

No. Did anybody else in the administration, President Biden, Vice President Harris, et cetera?

B (17:31)

I was given the independence to conduct my investigation, and I came to the decision to bring charges in this case without undue influence from anybody in the department.

A (17:41)

Then you had MAGA Republican Darrell Issa and his questioning to Jack Smith starts to say, you know, you were spying on Donald, you spied on Republicans, you spied on us all. And Jack Smith's like, I didn't spy on any of you. What are you talking about? Play this clip.

D (17:56)

Why is it that no one should be informed, including the judges? As you went in to spy on these people, did you mention that you were spying on seeking records so you could find out about when conversations occurred between the US speaker of the House and the President? Did you inform the judge, or did you hold that back?

B (18:19)

My office didn't spy on anyone.

D (18:21)

Wait a second. The question I asked you, Mr. Smith, was pretty straightforward. Did you withhold that information from an Article 3 Judge in the process of taking the records of the speaker of the House?

B (18:36)

We complied with department.

D (18:37)

Did you hold. Mr. Chairman, would you please instruct the gentleman to allow the witness to answer the question? It's not your time. I'd like my time back. Mr. Chairman, you have repeatedly done that in the past. The witness has the right to answer the question, and there'll be due time to answer the question. Would you please put my time back and let me finish this?

A (18:55)

Then Democratic Congressmember Dan Goldman, who was a former federal prosecutor, you know, he knows this stuff very well from being a prosecutor. He uses his time with Jack Smith to discuss that Jack Smith didn't spy on anyone. That Jack Smith used what are called toll records, which, from the dates of January 4th to January 7th, which just show the phone numbers of who was calling and receiving calls from Donald Trump. That's it. And the length of the time, the content of the calls, the text messages, those are not known at all. It just shows while a conspiracy was unfolding to overthrow our system of government, who was calling Trump? That's the only reason why people's phone numbers showed up. On these subpoenas. And it's not the actual content. There was no spying and it was just a limited period of time. Play this clip.

B (19:45)

Mr. Smith, I just want to take.

A (19:47)

A minute and allow you to explain.

B (19:49)

Why you requested the toll records of those officials for January 6th. For the January 6th investigation.

A (19:59)

Yeah.

D (19:59)

Correct.

B (20:00)

Well, with regard to the toll records that were subpoenaed regarding the period of the fourth, I think it was to the seventh, we had evidence that the President had directed Rudy Giuliani, one of his co conspirators, to contact members of Congress to try to further delay the proceedings and exploit the violence that happened in the Capitol. We had evidence that those calls had happened. We wanted to get more evidence of that to corroborate it for trial. That is, again, as I mentioned earlier today, a standard part of an investigation to understand who a conspiracy is trying to reach out to, how they're trying to influence people. And you want a documentary confirmation? Yes.

D (20:48)

Correct.

A (20:49)

Yield back. Next you have Democratic Congressmember Ted Lieu talks about how scared Republicans are that they're using this to cover up the Epstein files. Let's play it.

D (21:00)

Responsible for helping to ensure the rule of law. Unfortunately, the chairman of this committee ignored a bipartisan congressional subpoena directed at him. His actions have made it harder for this committee and other congressional committees to get witnesses and testimony and damage the rule of law. Now, before I ask questions of Mr. Smith, I just want to make a simple observation. How scared are Republicans of talking about the Epstein files? They're so scared that they literally a calling Jack Smith, the distinguished federal prosecutor who secured multiple indictments against Donald Trump with multiple felony counts. Republicans would rather talk about the criminality of Donald Trump in stealing, trying to steal an election and trying to stop the peaceful transfer of power. And the criminality of Donald Trump in stealing classified documents, obstructing justice. Then about Donald Trump's associations with Jeffrey Epstein and his pedophilia ring. I demand this committee, this chairman and Republicans to call immediate hearing asking why the Department of Justice is refusing to release 99% of the Epstein files and why the DOJ is violating law right now.

A (22:16)

More from Ted Lieu right here.

D (22:19)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The House Judiciary Committee is responsible for helping to ensure the rule of law. Unfortunately, the chairman of this committee ignored a bipartisan congressional subpoena directed at him. His actions have made it harder for this committee and other congressional committees to get witnesses and testimony and damage the rule of law.

A (22:41)

Congressmember Swalwell talking about how small these MAGA Republicans are and just how pitiful their behavior is. Let's play it.

D (22:48)

They call him crooked. They call him cruel. They call him a scumbag. I've heard you all say it. You're lucky you're not under Trump. But when the lights go on and the cameras are on, you're tiny, you're small. You shrink.

A (23:02)

There you have it, folks. Let me know what you think. I could show you a lot more clips, but I think that sufficiently highlights the gravamon of the testimony today. Honestly, the MAGA Republicans really refuse to like, actually talk that much about January 6th. They wanted to spend their time talking about, like Cassidy Hutchinson, who is Mark Meadows top assistant. Mark Meadows was Donald Trump's former chief of staff. And they wanted to try to talk about other cases that Jack Smith worked on in the past. And I just think that they wanted to try to get through this and they didn't really want to have to hold the hearing, but they held it. And I think Jack Smith did a great job. Democrats highlighted, you know, what took place, you know, on January 6th. But the reality is, is that in this term, with Donald Trump, this fascist term, every day is like a January 6th with this Trump regime. Every day is criminality. Every day they're sending ice, Gestapo, border patrol to terrorize more Americans and torture five year olds. It's horrible stuff by a horrible regime. Any event, we'll keep you posted every step of the way. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million. Thanks for watching. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our substack at midasplus.

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A (24:15)

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