{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-previews-tomorrows-judiciary-committee-hearing-with-former-special-counsel-jack-smith", "Durbin Previews Tomorrow\u2019s Judiciary Committee Hearing With Former Special Counsel Jack Smith", "2026-09-28", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "IL", "Richard J. Durbin", "D000563", "www.durbin.senate.gov", "durbin", "https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, previewed tomorrow\u2019s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with former Special Counsel Jack Smith. In November 2022, then-Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Mr. Smith, a nonpartisan career prosecutor, as Special Counsel with authority to investigate President Trump\u2019s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, as well as Trump\u2019s effort to illegally retain highly classified government documents. As a result of these investigations, Special Counsel Smith indicted Trump on four counts in the election interference case, and 40 counts in the classified documents case.\n\nMr. Smith has offered to testify publicly under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee for almost a year. Instead of allowing Mr. Smith to testify, Senate Judiciary Republicans held wasteful hearings to relitigate the 2020 presidential election, despite numerous other issues worth examining within the Committee\u2019s jurisdiction.\n\n\u201cTomorrow, finally, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear from former Special Counsel Jack Smith,\u201d said Durbin. \u201cIn 2020, President Trump spent months spreading the \u2018Big Lie\u2019 that the 2020 election was stolen\u2026 He pressured state election officials, his own Vice President, the Justice Department, and Members of Congress to overturn the results of the election. This culminated in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, where President Trump\u2019s supporters tried to violently prevent the constitutional certification of the 2020 election.\u201d\n\nDurbin continued, \u201cBut instead of condemning this egregious criminal conduct\u2026 my Republican colleagues are spreading baseless conspiracy theories and attacking career prosecutors and FBI agents, claiming the so-called \u2018deep state\u2019 is out to get Donald Trump.\u201d\n\nWhen Trump was re-elected president in November 2024, Special Counsel Smith moved to dismiss the cases against him based on the Department of Justice\u2019s position that the Constitution forbids the federal indictment and prosecution of a sitting president. Following the dismissal, Special Counsel Smith provided Garland a two-volume report outlining his findings in both investigations. While Garland released Volume I, concerning the election interference case, Judge Aileen Cannon enjoined DOJ from releasing Volume II, concerning the classified documents case.\n\nIn October 2025, and again in February 2026, Durbin led all Senate Judiciary Democrats in sending a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) calling on him to allow former Special Counsel Jack Smith to testify before the Committee. In their letters, the Senators also urged Chairman Grassley to request DOJ release Volume II of Special Counsel Smith\u2019s report.\n\n\u201cNow, after years of criticism and multiple hearings about the investigations, Senate Judiciary Republicans are finally holding a hearing with Jack Smith\u2026 Jack Smith asked Republicans\u2026 for the opportunity to testify under oath to the Judiciary Committee nearly a year ago\u2014back in October 2025. They ignored it. At the time, Judiciary Committee Democrats sent a letter urging the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee to stop complaining and bring Mr. Smith before the Committee\u2026 We made this request again in February 2026\u2026 The Chairman had declined to bring Smith before the Committee, claiming that the Committee needed more time to gather information,\u201d Durbin said. \u201cStill, Republicans on the Committee have made no effort to obtain a copy of Volume II of Jack Smith\u2019s report, which details the findings from the criminal investigation into President Trump\u2019s alleged mishandling of classified materials.\u201d\n\nDurbin continued, \u201cIf this hearing was really about getting answers, Committee Republicans would be doing everything they could to obtain a copy of Volume II and urge the Department of Justice to allow Smith to discuss his investigation.\u201d\n\nDurbin concluded, \u201cDespite these impediments, I\u2019m glad my Republican colleagues will finally address these concerns directly. It\u2019s about time, and in fact it is well past time, for this Committee, the Judiciary Committee, to move on from and stop spreading political rumors and get down to the truth.\u201d\n\nVideo of Durbin\u2019s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.\n\nAudio of Durbin\u2019s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.\n\nFootage of Durbin\u2019s remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.\n\n-30-", 1, "2026-09-29T11:07:12Z", "2026-09-29T11:08:49Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-previews-tomorrows-judiciary-committee-hearing-with-former-special-counsel-jack-smith"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9886929765343666, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}