Congressional Republicans' hearings on Jack Smith (2026)

Case

Through 2026, Republicans in both chambers held a series of hearings on former special counsel Jack Smith, framed as oversight of his 'abuse of authority,' as the midterms approached. At the Sept. 29 Senate Judiciary hearing, Smith defended both Trump prosecutions under oath, while Sen. Eric Schmitt accused him of perjury based on text messages that turned out to describe a different basketball game in a different state.

Background: Smith's two Trump cases
Nov. 18, 2022: Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith special counsel, three days after Trump announced his 2024 campaign.
June 2023: a grand jury indicted Trump on 37 felony counts over retaining classified documents and obstructing their return. Aug. 1, 2023: a D.C. grand jury charged him with four felonies over efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
After the Supreme Court's July 2024 immunity ruling and Trump's reelection, Smith dropped both cases under DOJ's long-standing policy that a sitting president can't be prosecuted, not because of the evidence.
Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, blocked release of Smith's report on the classified documents case (Volume II) and restricted his ability to testify about it, even though releasing a final report is standard for special counsels.

A year of hearings to relitigate 2020
Jan. 22, 2026: the House Judiciary Committee under Chairman Jim Jordan held a public hearing with Smith, who had long asked to testify publicly. Democrats noted his testimony was necessarily incomplete because of Cannon's order.
Feb. 2026: Senate Judiciary Republicans began what Democrats called a 'highly unusual' series of eight subcommittee hearings on Smith's 2020-election investigation, rather than calling Smith himself. Democrats repeatedly asked that Smith, who had offered, testify publicly under oath.
Sept. 29, 2026: Smith finally testified before the full Senate Judiciary Committee at a hearing titled 'Oversight of Jack Smith's Abuse of Authority and the Targeting of Republicans,' held about five weeks before the midterm elections.

The Sept. 29 Senate hearing
Republicans, led by Chairman Chuck Grassley, focused on subpoenas for phone records of members of Congress and financial records of GOP donors and groups. Several suggested Smith himself should be prosecuted.
Smith said the phone records showed only the time and length of calls, not their content, and that his office consulted DOJ's Public Integrity Section before obtaining them. No law barred seeking such records at the time.
Smith testified that his investigation 'developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt' of Trump's crimes, that he would bring the same charges against a Democrat, and that he 'will not be silenced' by the president's threats to jail him.
Smith called it an 'outrage' that many of his former team members have been fired or otherwise politically targeted for their work.

Sen. Schmitt's 'Hawks' perjury accusation
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) asked Smith if he attended a Warriors vs. Atlanta Hawks NBA game in Atlanta on Feb. 3, 2024, implying he met there with Fulton County DA Fani Willis and Nathan Wade. Smith said he had never been to a Hawks game and had never met either of them.
Schmitt briefly flashed a poster of texts from Smith's deputy asking 'Is 109 Row 1 reserved for Jack?', then removed it, told Smith he had 'already perjured yourself,' and called him a 'dirtbag.'
Once allowed to read the poster, Smith said he had attended a Maryland vs. Iowa women's college game featuring Caitlin Clark around that date. Sen. Amy Klobuchar pointed out that Iowa's team is the Hawkeyes: 'You had the teams wrong, sir.'
The Maryland-Iowa game was played Feb. 3, 2024. Talking Points Memo found that Atlanta's arena uses letters, not numbers, for rows in section 109, so the seat in the texts doesn't exist there; Maryland's arena does have a section 109 with numbered rows.
Schmitt doubled down on the Charlie Kirk Show after the hearing, where the host praised him for catching Smith 'in Atlanta.' Schmitt said his job was simply 'to ask the questions.'

Research notes
Open leads: the total number of 2026 Senate Judiciary hearings actually held on Smith, and any staff or cost figures for them; whether Schmitt corrected the record; the status of Smith's blocked Volume II report (classified documents case).

Note
Republicans say Smith's investigations weaponized DOJ against Trump and his allies; Smith says his work followed DOJ policy and the evidence, and two grand juries returned indictments.

Sources
[1] Senate Judiciary Committee hearing page (https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-activity/hearings/oversight-of-jack-smiths-abuse-of-authority-and-the-targeting-of-republicans-and-related-matters) · 2026-09-29
[2] Jack Smith written testimony, Senate Judiciary (https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/eb1618d2-f0bc-4235-9474-853bf3201147/2026-09-29_Testimony_Smith_01b90c84-f3a2-45af-bcdb-7ffc5a1ee309.pdf) · 2026-09-29
[3] Talking Points Memo (Hunter Walker) (https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/eric-schmitt-jack-smith-hawks-hawkeyes) · 2026-09-29
[4] ABC News (https://abcnews.com/Politics/former-special-counsel-jack-smith-testify-senate-trump/story?id=136828779) · 2026-09-29
[5] Al Jazeera (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/29/jack-smith-defends-investigations-into-trump-during-tense-us-senate-hearing) · 2026-09-29
[6] Sen. Durbin press release (Senate Judiciary Democrats) (https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senate-judiciary-democrats-call-for-jack-smith-to-publicly-testify-under-oath) · 2026-02-10
[7] Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-29-2026) · 2026-09-30
[8] House Judiciary Democrats letter (Raskin et al.) (https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2026-01-22-raskin-et-al-to-jordan-re-jack-smith-hearing-volume-ii.pdf) · 2026-01-22

Connections

Same context — DOJ/FBI handling of the Epstein files
Both concern how Trump-aligned officials handle investigations of Trump: public release of Smith's classified-documents report is blocked in court, while Trump's DOJ is being sued for withholding Epstein records, including FBI notes on an allegation against Trump.

Related — Thesis: Trump and allies are pushing for federal control over the 2026 midterm elections
Both concern the 2020 election narrative being used ahead of the 2026 midterms.