Trump sees Smith as personification of ‘weaponised’ Justice Departmentpublished at 16:10 GMT
Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House
Donald Trump is still not back in Washington DC – but he will almost certainly be hearing updates from today’s hearing from his team.
Even before returning to the White House last January, Trump has made Jack Smith a favourite target for both personal and professional attacks, repeatedly referring to him as “deranged”, “sick” or “a lunatic”.
For Trump, Smith is – perhaps more than anyone else – the personification of a Justice Department he believes was “weaponised” against him by his political opponents during the Biden administration.
As special counsel , Smith took the lead in investigating Trump’s role in alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, as well as his handling of classified documents.
In both cases, Trump continues to see no wrongdoing on his part.
In the case of the election and the 6 January riot, it’s something that he often mentions multiple times each week, insisting that he won and that nothing he did contributed to what occurred at the US Capitol. The US president is not one to forgive or forget perceived slights.
We haven’t heard on the topic from Trump today, but we may well see him reaction Truth Social or to reporters traveling with him on the way back from Davos this afternoon.
