Trump to address nation Wednesday night

(Washington) Former special counsel Jack Smith defended his decision to bring charges twice against President Donald Trump — telling lawmakers in a closed-door deposition earlier this month that his team “had proof beyond reasonable doubt in both cases” that Trump was guilty of the charges in the 2020 election interference and classified documents cases.

And Smith fervently denied that there was any political influence behind his decision — contrary to what the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, who requested the testimony, alleged — such as pressure from then-President Joe Biden or Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“No,” Smith responded continuously.

Just over an hour before the closed testimony on Dec. 17, the Department of Justice sent an email to Smith’s lawyers preventing him from discussing the classified documents case, according to the 255-page transcript of the deposition, released Wednesday by the Judiciary Committee along with a video of the hearing.

This meant Smith was unable to answer most questions on that case and the deposition — intended to ask questions about the alleged weaponization of the DOJ against Trump and his allies — mainly focused on the 2020 election case instead.

Smith’s counsel said the DOJ also refused to send a lawyer to advise Smith on whether his statements were in line with their determination of what he could or could not say regarding the cases, according to the deposition. Smith did say, however, that Trump “obstructed” the classified documents investigation “to conceal his continued retention of those documents.”

Trump repeatedly denied the allegations in both felony cases, which were unprecedented against an American president, and decried them as part of a “witch hunt.” Smith, one of Trump’s frequent targets on social media, ultimately dropped the cases after Trump’s reelection because he said that he was constitutionally prohibited from prosecuting a sitting president.

Smith asserted in his final report that “but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the Presidency, the Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.”

During the deposition, Smith argued, as he had in the past, that Trump “President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power.”

When asked if Trump was responsible for the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, Smith said “Our view of the evidence was that he caused it and that he exploited it and that it was foreseeable to him.”

Smith argued that Trump’s claims that he won the 2020 election were not protected free speech because they were intended to target a government function.

“There is no historical analog for what President Trump did in this case. As we said in the indictment, he was free to say that he thought he won the election. He was even free to say falsely that he won the election,” Smith said. “But what he was not free to do was violate Federal law and use knowing — knowingly false statements about election fraud to target a lawful government function. That he was not allowed to do. And that differentiates this case from any past history.”

And Smith said Trump wrote a tweet that “without question in my mind endangered the life of his own Vice President” during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Smith said several witnesses who said they voted or campaigned for Trump — including the Speaker of the House in Arizona and Speaker of the House in Michigan — were the foundation of the case.

“We had an elector in Pennsylvania who is a former Congressman who was going to be an elector for President Trump who said that what they were trying to do was an attempt to overthrow the government and illegal. Our case was built on, frankly, Republicans who put their allegiance to the country before the party,” Smith said.

Asked why Smith did not charge any of the alleged co-conspirators, Smith said “As we stated in the final report, we analyzed the evidence against different co-conspirators. We — my staff determined that we did have evidence to charge people at a certain point in time. I had not made final determinations about that at the time that President Trump won reelection, meaning that our office was going to be closed down.”

Smith said he had evidence that Trump ordered the alleged co-conspirators to place phone calls to senators the night of Jan. 6 to try and delay the certification vote.

The committee pressed Smith why he did not speak with Trump allies Steve Bannon, Roger Stone or Peter Navarro as part of their investigation.

“We pursued the investigative routes that we thought were the most fruitful,” Smith argued. “I didn’t think it would be fruitful to try to question them.”

And they pressed him on seizing phones of members of Congress. Smith said only Scott Perry had his phone seized and no senators did.

“I don’t recall that,” Smith said when asked if he wanted a search warrant for the content of any text messages from members of Congress.

Smith said he just wanted toll records and confirmed that he approved the subpoenas.

“If Donald Trump had chosen to call a number of Democratic Senators, we would have gotten toll records for Democratic Senators. So responsibility for why these records, why we collected them, that’s — that lies with Donald Trump,” Smith said.

Smith recalled that Jim Jordan, the Judiciary Committee chair, was in direct contact with White House on Jan. 6, according to an interview his team conducted with Mark Meadows.

Meadows stated that Jordan was scared. “I’ve never seen Jim Jordan scared of anything,” Meadows said, according to Smith.

Smith said he is “eyes wide open” that he believes Trump will seek retribution against him.

“I came here. I was asked to come here,” he added.

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(WASHINGTON) — In candid interviews with Vanity Fair, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles opened up about President Donald Trump and his Cabinet over the first year of Trump’s second term.

Wiles took part in 11 interviews that occurred in real time. Two parts of those interviews were published on Tuesday.

In them, Wiles offered unreserved descriptions of top figures in the administration — including Trump, who she said has an “alcoholic’s personality.”

Wiles said Trump, who has repeatedly said he doesn’t drink alcohol, said he “operates [with] a view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing.”

She called Vice President JD Vance a “conspiracy theorist for a decade” and White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought “a right-wing absolute zealot.” Billionaire Elon Musk, she said, was an “odd duck” and “avowed ketamine [user].”

Wiles also weighed in on Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, Musk’s slashing of federal government agencies and programs, the chaotic rollout of Trump’s tariff plans, the administration’s aims for Venezuela and more.

Wiles, responding to Vanity Fair’s articles, said it is a “disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history.”

“The truth is the Trump White House has already accomplished more in eleven months than any other President has accomplished in eight years and that is due to the unmatched leadership and vision of President Trump, for whom I have been honored to work for the better part of a decade,” Wiles wrote on X.

“Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story. I assume, after reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team,” Wiles added.

ABC News has reached out to Condé Nast, Vanity Fair’s parent company, for comment on Wiles’ criticism.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Wiles on X. 

“Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has helped President Trump achieve the most successful first 11 months in office of any President in American history. President Trump has no greater or more loyal advisor than Susie. The entire Administration is grateful for her steady leadership and united fully behind her,” Leavitt wrote in a post responding to Wiles’ criticism of the articles.

Trump, Bondi and Musk have not publicly responded to the Vanity Fair articles.

Vance, at an event Tuesday in Pennsylvania, said he hadn’t read the Vanity Fair article but responded to Wiles’ remark that he’s been a “conspiracy theorist for the past decade.” Wiles made the comment on Vance while discussing the Epstein files.

“I haven’t looked at the article. I, of course, have heard about it. But conspiracy theorist, sometimes I am a conspiracy theorist but I only believe in the conspiracy theories that are true,” Vance told reporters.

“And by the way, Susie and I have joked in private and in public about that for a long time,” he added.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday made it clear that even though she and former President Bill Clinton agreed to a closed-door deposition, they are continuing to push for a public hearing as part of the House Oversight Committee’s probe into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“For six months, we engaged Republicans on the Oversight Committee in good faith. We told them what we know, under oath,” she wrote on X. “They ignored all of it. They moved the goalposts and turned accountability into an exercise in distraction.”

“So let’s stop the games. If you want this fight, [Rep. James Comer], let’s have it — in public. You love to talk about transparency. There’s nothing more transparent than a public hearing, cameras on. We will be there,” she posted.

Earlier this week, the Clintons agreed to sit for closed depositions on Epstein after the GOP-led House Oversight Committee threatened to hold them in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with its subpoenas relating to Epstein.

Comer, the committee’s chairman, announced on Tuesday that Hillary Clinton is scheduled to testify on Feb. 26. Bill Clinton will sit for deposition the following day, Feb. 27.

For months, the Clintons had insisted that the subpoenas were without legal merit. Comer had pushed back, saying the Clintons are not above the law and must comply with a subpoena.

A letter from the Clintons’ attorney Jon Skladany to Comer also said an open hearing “will best suit our concerns about fairness,” citing the requirement that the interviews be videotaped — but ultimately left the decision about whether to hold a hearing or a deposition up to Comer.

The subpoenas the committee sent to the Clintons were specifically for a closed-door deposition. That is what will occur, and Comer said a public hearing is welcome after that if the Clintons want to come in. 

“The deposition will be made public, it’s going to be audio, video and the transcripts will be released,” Comer said in an interview on Newsmax on Wednesday.

“Depositions are always the preferred means of getting information from a witness. If you look at history, congressional hearings, they may be entertaining, but they’re not very substantive … So, we’re going to do the depositions. That’s what the subpoena is for,” Comer said. “And after the depositions, if the Clintons want more, they’re more than welcome to come to the House Oversight Committee after they’re deposed. If they want to testify in a public hearing in front of the Oversight Committee, they are more than welcome to do that.”

Neither Bill Clinton nor Hillary Clinton has been accused of wrongdoing and both deny having any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. No Epstein survivor or associate has ever made a public allegation of wrongdoing or inappropriate behavior by the former president or his wife in connection with his prior relationship with Epstein. 

President Donald Trump, in an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, repeated that he thinks it’s a “shame” that the Clintons will sit for depositions.

“It bothers me that somebody is going after Bill Clinton. See, I like Bill Clinton. I still like Bill Clinton,” Trump said.

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