Jack Smith defends Trump investigations and dismisses GOP perjury allegations in Senate hearing

Senate testimony on federal investigations

Former US special counsel Jack Smith appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on 29 September 2026 to defend his federal prosecutions of Donald Trump against claims of political bias. The hearing was Smith's third appearance under oath on Capitol Hill and his second before the public. Republican lawmakers spent the session questioning Smith about two criminal cases he led in 2023, which examined the retention of classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Smith addressed warnings of retaliation by stating he would not yield to political pressure or legal threats from the administration. He testified that his office applied consistent legal standards across all inquiries, insisting he would have pursued the matters regardless of whether the target was a Republican or a Democrat.

I will not be silenced by continued threats of prosecution.

The Atlanta perjury allegation

A contentious exchange developed when Republican Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri accused Smith of committing perjury over his whereabouts on 3 February 2024. Schmitt presented blown-up displays of text messages and asserted that Smith secretly traveled to Georgia to attend a National Basketball Association game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Golden State Warriors. The senator suggested Smith made the trip to coordinate with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who had publicly disclosed a personal relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade the day before. Smith denied meeting Willis or Wade, and stated that he did not recall being in Atlanta during his tenure as special counsel, except perhaps when connecting through the airport.

I think you've already perjured yourself.

Confusion over college and professional basketball

Smith resolved the accusation by explaining that the text messages referenced a women's college basketball game he attended in College Park, Maryland. Accompanied by the US Marshals Service, Smith had traveled to watch Caitlin Clark play for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes against the University of Maryland Terrapins. Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota intervened to allow Smith to inspect the displayed text messages, pointing out that Schmitt had mistaken the Iowa Hawkeyes for the Atlanta Hawks professional team. Schmitt called Smith a total dirtbag before yielding his remaining questioning time. Conservative commentators Benny Johnson and Sean Hannity initially published social media posts claiming Smith had committed perjury, but both subsequently deleted the posts after the error became public.

Related inquiries into Mar-a-Lago document recovery

The hearing unfolded alongside broader scrutiny surrounding the Department of Justice and the August 2022 search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. Federal agents who participated in the recovery of classified records recently submitted a court motion addressing grand jury subpoenas. In that filing, attorneys for the agents stated that compelled testimony would affirm that Trump unlawfully retained hundreds of highly classified documents that endangered national security. The motion also sought legal protections ensuring that testifying would not violate a federal judicial order restricting the public release of Smith's formal report. Smith concluded his testimony by reiterating that his team's findings rested strictly on evidence and federal statutory authority.