Jordan, Jim: committee will come to order without objection the chair's authorized to clear recess at any time we welcome everyone to today's hearing on oversight of the office of special counsel Jack Smith chair now recognizes the gentle lady from Florida to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance we'll begin today's hearing with opening statements chairs now recognized for an opening statement it was always about politics and to get President Trump they were willing to do just about anything January 7th 2023 Kevin McCarthy becomes Speaker of the House 16 days later Jack Smith issues a subpoena for his phone records phone records from a two years prior for a two-month time frame Election Day 2020 to January 7th 2021 Jack Smith and the Biden Justice Department get the phone records of the top Republican in government the guy second in line to the president they know who he called who called him when the call took place and how long it lasted you can pattern an individual's life they know who the speaker talked to before big votes who he talked to after big votes when he calls his colleagues when he calls his family and to add insult to injury they go to the judge with the subpoena for a gag order on the carrier AT&T don't tell your customer the speaker of the house that you just gave his phone calls to Jack Smith and Joe Biden and here's the kicker they say to the court we need this gag order because he's a flight risk someone might tamper with witnesses or with evidence are you evidence. Are you kidding me? The Speaker of the House is going to run. They got my phone records for 2.5 years. Even the Democrats said this was wrong. But of course, we shouldn't be surprised. Democrats have been going after President Trump for 10 years, for a decade, and the country should never, ever forget what they did. Over the next few hours, we're going to hear a lot of yelling and screaming, I assume, from the other side. But we should never forget what took place, what they did to the guy we, the people, elected president twice. It all started in 2016 when they spied on his campaign. The Clinton campaign hired the law firm Perkins Coie, who hired the public relations firm Fusion GPS, who hired a foreigner, Christopher Steele, to put together the fake dossier. Bunch of garbage in that document. But that was used by Jim Comey's FBI. And we all know Jim Comey. He was the guy who just last year was strolling along the beach when the good Lord had the waves wash up on shore seashells in the formation of 8647. That guy took that dossier to the FISA court, lied to the court, and then spied on the other party's campaign. This, of course, led to the Mueller investigation, two and a half years, 19 lawyers, 40 agents, $30 million to find nothing, no conspiracy, no coordination whatsoever. Then it was impeachment one, unanimous whistleblower. We couldn't even know who was bringing the charge against the guy they were trying to take it. The guy we elected, who were they trying to kick out of office? We couldn't know. Secret hearings in the bunker, in the basement of the Capitol. Again, nothing. Then it was impeachment two. No secret hearings here because they didn't have any hearings. It was a snap impeachment, and the Senate trial actually took place after President Trump wasn't in office. Then, of course, it was Alvin Bragg, who said before he got elected district attorney that there was no case here. Then he gets elected and changes his mind when the left starts pressuring him to go after President Trump. He hires Michael Colangelo, former Democrat National Committee consultant, and the number three guy at the Department of Justice. Then, of course, it's Fonny and Nathan, Fonny Willis and Nathan Wade in Fulton County, Georgia. We actually deposed Mr. Wade, one of the most interesting depositions I've sat through. We said to him, you build taxpayers in Georgia thousands of dollars for meetings in D.C. with the January 6th Committee and with the Biden administration. We asked him some questions. Who'd you talk to, Mr. Wade? He couldn't remember. We said, where'd you meet? Did you meet the Capitol? Did you meet the White House? Where'd you meet? Couldn't remember that either. We said, were these meetings in person, on the phone, or did you have a Zoom meeting? Couldn't remember, couldn't remember, couldn't remember. We finally just asked him, did you really come to D.C. and meet people? He said, oh, yeah, I came and I build the taxpayers. I know I came. Just no idea who he talked to or what he did. Then there was the raid on President Trump's home, you know, where they searched Barron's room and the First Lady's closet. In our deposition with Stephen D'Antuono, head of the FBI Washington field office, he told us none of the normal process, none of the normal protocol was followed in the investigation. He said, first of all, the case was run out of D.C. Normally you run it out of the Miami field office. No, no, no, we're going to run it out of D.C. He said he recommended, and the people in the FBI at the time in the Washington field office recommended they give the president notice before they do the search, or at least when they got there, before they start the search, call the president's lawyers, ask them to come there and meet them and conduct the search together. Again, the answer from Maine justice was no. Which brings us back to Mr. Smith. On November 18th, 2022, three days after President Trump announces he's running for president, Attorney General Garland names Jack Smith special counsel. One of the first things Mr. Smith does is put on his team the very people responsible for the raid on President Trump's home. The very people. And then Jack Smith also puts on his team the people responsible for getting the phone records of dozens of members of Congress. People like Thomas Windham, who when we deposed him took the fifth 71 times. We've actually referred him to the Justice Department for obstructing our investigation. Jack Smith then gets a gag order in his investigation on President Trump from Judge Chutkan without filing a single affidavit with the court from Stop and think about it. Jack Smith restricts the speech of the former president while he's the order was changed. In fact, just two weeks ago, the Washington Post editorial page, Jack Smith would have blown a hole in the First Amendment. I just want to read two sentences from this. Mr. Smith seemed unconcerned about interfering in the democratic process by seeking to muzzle a candidate for high office. Three appellate judges, all nominated by Democrat presidents, ruled that Mr. Smith's proposed gag order infringed on President Trump's First Amendment rights. And of course they did. And this wasn't the only time Mr. Smith lost in court. In the classified documents case in Miami, Judge Cannon held that Mr. Smith was not permitted to be special counsel. Jack Smith was never properly appointed. In fact, he couldn't be properly appointed because he was never confirmed by the Senate for any position in the executive branch as the law requires. Here's what Judge Cannon stated. Quote, the special counsel's position effectively usurps that important legislative authority, transferring it to a head of department, and in the process, threatening the structural liberty inherent in the separation of powers. And of course, on July 1st, 2024, the United States Supreme Court ruled that President Trump had immunity for actions taken in his official capacity as the president. One month later, after this decision by the Supreme Court, Jack Smith files a superseding indictment on August 27th, 2024. But Mr. Smith doesn't stop there. He does something unprecedented. On October 2nd, he files a motion with the court before President Trump's defense counsel has even responded to the indictment. Everyone knows the normal process is the government indicts, the defense responds with some motions, and then the government responds to the defense. But Mr. Smith skips the second step. And the brief that he files is 165 pages, almost four times the court limit. Even liberal Judge Chutkan, who's given Jack Smith everything he's asked for in the course of this investigation, even she called it atypical and irregular. Now, why would Jack Smith do that? Why would he abandon proper procedure? Why would he ignore court rules? Why would he do that? Because he's running out of time. There's an election around the corner. It's coming in 33 days, and he's got to get President Trump. He's got to stop President Trump from running. Tie him up in court. He's got to get to trial or, at a minimum, insert an 165-page political document into the presidential campaign. It was always about politics. The good news is the American people saw through it. They saw through it. For so long, the left has controlled so much in this country. The left controlled big media. The left controlled big tech. The left controlled academia, Hollywood, certainly the Democrat Party, and I think all too much the federal bureaucracy. But the left doesn't control we the people. And in spite of the left and the weaponization efforts of Jim Comey, Alvin Bragg... Craig, Fonny Willis, and Jack Smith, we the people saw through it all, and we elected President Trump twice. Before turning to the ranking member for his opening statement, I would just ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the Washington Post editorial, Jack Smith would have blown With that, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland.