“Trump Tried To Steal Presidency”: Durbin Levels Explosive 2020 Election Charges Before Jack Smith

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm glad my Republican colleagues have finally accepted Special Counsel Jack Smith's offer, longstanding offer, to appear before this committee and testify under oath. Republicans have spent months spreading baseless conspiracy theories about Mr. Smith's investigation instead of hearing from him directly. Nearly a year ago, Mr. Smith volunteered to testify under oath before this committee. We Democrats joined in that offer, saying, let's get to the bottom of it, put him under oath, and let's ask questions. And then almost a year passed. House Republicans called Mr. Smith to testify in January. But Senate Republicans refused his offer to testify and instead held eight hearings on his supposed wrongdoing, never calling him directly. In fact, this committee held only three hearings to question telecom companies for following the law and hear from MAGA loyalist witnesses with no firsthand knowledge of Mr. Smith's investigation. Finally, the Senate Republicans relented, and we have today's hearing. Here are the facts. Mr. Smith was tasked with investigating President Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his unlawful retention and distribution of sensitive classified documents after President Trump left office. In the weeks following President Trump's 2020 election loss, and yes, for the record, the president did lose the election, He tried to subvert the will of the people and steal the presidency. The president did all of this while knowing and privately admitting he'd lost the election to Joe Biden. By 7 million votes, President Trump threatened state election officials in battleground states where he lost, urging them to submit fraudulent election certificates to overturn the votes in those states. Now, that's a pretty tough allegation, that the president asked election officials in various states to change the outcome, to overturn the election. What proof do you have, Durbin? The voice of the president himself. How do we know this? The president said it. He called the election official in Georgia and asked him to find, find was his word, 11,780 votes. I hope that that never happened before in American history, and I hope it never happens again. President Trump pressured two attorneys general to have the Justice Department falsely declare election fraud and pressure states to overturn the will of the people. One of these attorney generals resigned. And when his successor still refused, Trump threatened to replace him with a loyalist who would do his bidding. The president's own White House counsel called this threat, quote, a murder-suicide pact. Trump only backed down when he was informed that his entire Department of Justice leadership threatened to resign en masse rather than violate their oaths to the Constitution. President Trump's efforts to steal the election reached a crescendo on January 6th of 2021, when he exhorted his supporters at a rally by the White House to, quote, fight like hell and told them, quote, we're going to the Capitol, the words of the president. I was here on January 6th when that armed mob overran this building in a violent attempt to stop the election certification process, which was taking place in the House and the Senate. In the wake of that attack of January 6th, and you saw it on video, exactly what happened. Five law enforcement officers who defended us and the visitors to the Capitol and the ideals they represented lost their lives. More than 140 policemen were injured. It's been my honor to serve for 30 years in the United States Senate. There are moments I'll never forget. 25 years ago, 9-11 was one of those moments. when we were asked to evacuate the Capitol for fear of what might happen if the terrorists attack. But today, I'll also remember as long as I live is January 6, 2021, when this cathedral of democracy was overrun by violent insurrectionists at the direction of the President of the United States. When he finally left office in 2021, President Trump seized boxes of classified documents containing top-secret information on our defense and weapon capabilities, our nuclear programs, and potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attacks. These were government documents the president took, not his personal effects. Yet he stored these extremely sensitive documents haphazardly in a Mar-a-Lago ballroom, a bathroom shower, his bedroom. and other unsecured spaces. And then he showed off these secret documents to seemingly anyone at random, including his publisher, staff members, and representatives of his political action committee. When members of the Senate are shown documents like this, it is in a closed setting and guarded document room, where we are told, don't take anything in writing out of this room afterwards. The president was showing these things off at Mar-a-Lago. In both his theft and distribution of these classified documents and his attempts to steal the 2020 election, President Trump demonstrated a wanton disdain for the laws of the United States, the will of the people, and our national security. Malfeasance by government officials is sadly not a new phenomenon, but President Trump's misconduct was egregious, differing in kind and scale from what we had seen by any president before him. Investigating misconduct by government officials requires scrupulous care. Thankfully, Mr. Smith, who is here today and will be under oath, and his team of nonpartisan career prosecutors had the necessary experience to tackle this assignment. Mr. Smith's resume as a professional prosecutor is solid and extensive. He's done everything from securing a capital murder conviction against a gang leader who murdered two New York Police Department officers to securing convictions against war criminals from the Kosovo War. But in return, Mr. Smith and his special counsel staff have had their names dragged through the mud by the MAGA machine. Timothy Tebow. Heard his name this morning? It was said repeatedly by the chairman. Timothy Tebow retired from the FBI in August of 2022. Mr. Smith was appointed special counselor three months later in November of 2022, as an example. This is the result of the President Trump's campaign aided and abetted by many congressional Republicans to whitewash the history of the 2020 election and the January 6th insidious attack on this Capitol building. Republicans have released documents and details related to these investigations in a haphazard, non-chronological order to muddle the professional nature of Mr. Smith's efforts in a manufactured controversy where there is none. They decry Mr. Smith for following the facts of the law and say nothing, nothing about a president who continued to break the law in an effort to prevent the truth from coming to light. Trump frequently threatened public officials and likely witnesses in the election interference case by name, which encouraged further threats and intimidation by his supporters. In the classified documents case, Trump took obstruction to a new level. He suggested to his attorneys that they lie and say they had submitted all the documents or did not have them. He suggested they remove some documents prior to returning them, directed his employees to hide documents, directed his employees to delete video footage of the boxes being hidden at his home in Mar-a-Lago. It is sad to see my Republican colleagues contort themselves to support President Trump's lies. I expect that will continue today because of the limits placed on Mr. Smith's ability to testify by MAGA loyalist judge Aileen Cannon and the Trump administration. Judge Cannon has enjoined the release of volume two of the special counsel report on classified documents. And Mr. Smith himself is enjoined from providing information about that investigation unless the Justice Department makes that information public. Let me be clear. There was nothing untoward about Special Counsel Smith and his fellow prosecutors conducting this investigation. The aspersion cast on Mr. Smith, nonstop, are petty, personal, and political. They are nothing but a smokescreen to distract from the president's own clear, unlawful conduct. After years of whitewashing President Trump's crimes, My Republican colleagues can finally raise their concerns with the one person who can address them. Maybe this will finally free the committee from the endless, endless debate and base on baseless conspiracy theories and allow us to address real problems affecting the American people. I yield. Mr. Smith, would you please rise? You affirm that the testimony you're about to give before the committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help you God. Thank you. You may proceed to your opening statement.