{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-questions-former-special-counsel-jack-smith-during-senate-judiciary-committee-hearing", "Durbin Questions Former Special Counsel Jack Smith During Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing", "2026-09-29", "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 U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned former Special Counsel Jack Smith during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Durbin began his questions by asking about toll record requirements.\n\n\u201cThere is, I think, appropriate concern by members of this Committee and members of Congress as to your activities related to their telephone conversations, text messages, and records. Please explain to us what involvement you had with any information from members of Congress?\u201d Durbin asked. He went on to ask, \u201cWhy were they relevant?\u201d\n\nMr. Smith responded by clarifying that toll records are metadata, not the content of phone calls or messages. He also stated that his office secured toll records from third party companies as part of the investigation, and before his office did that, he consulted with the Public Integrity Section (PIN) of the Department of Justice (DOJ) inquiring if those toll record subpoenas were \u201cappropriate.\u201d\n\nHe went on to explain that the records were relevant for a number of reasons. He continued to say, \u201cfirst, with respect to the toll records regarding the evening of January 6, those records corroborated evidence that we had that the President\u2014President Donald Trump\u2014and his co-conspirators were seeking to exploit the violence on January 6 in furtherance of their criminal scheme.\u201d Mr. Smith stated the toll records were \u201can important part of our investigation\u2014centrally relevant to the issue of criminal intent.\u201d He stated that the toll records added to the evidence of Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cguilt\u201d\u2014inciting an insurrection to overturn the election results.\n\nDurbin asked if, during the events of January 6, if President Trump was in contact with some members of Congress. Mr. Smith confirmed President Trump was in contact with members of Congress.\n\n\u201cThis has been characterized by some as a \u2018wiretap.\u2019 Did you initiate any wiretaps relevant to members of Congress of either party?\u201d Durbin asked.\n\nMr. Smith responded, \u201cno,\u201d and again, verified that toll records are \u201cnoncontent records.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy colleagues have spent an extensive amount of time discussing Timothy Thibault, who retired from the FBI in August 2022. According to our information, you were appointed Special Counsel three months after his retirement in November of 2022. Was Timothy Thibault a part of your Special Counsel team?\u201d Durbin asked.\n\nMr. Smith responded, \u201cno.\u201d\n\n\u201cDid you ever meet him during your work as Special Counsel?\u201d Durbin followed up.\n\nMr. Smith responded, \u201cno, not that I recall.\u201d\n\n\u201cDid Timothy Thibault or the work he had done\u2014whatever it was\u2014influence any of your decision making as Special Counsel?\u201d Durbin asked.\n\nMr. Smith responded, \u201cno, we made our decisions based on the facts, based on the law, [and] based on the investigation that my team conducted.\u201d\n\nDurbin concluded, \u201cI would say to those who are following the hearing\u2014after hearing all of these references of Timothy Thibault\u2014he was gone\u2026 from the FBI by the time Mr. Smith was appointed and he never met him. And he was not a part of his team. Some of these conspiracy theories just keep mushrooming despite the evidence to the contrary.\u201d\n\nVideo of Durbin\u2019s questions in Committee is available here.\n\nAudio of Durbin\u2019s questions in Committee is available here.\n\nFootage of Durbin\u2019s questions in Committee is available here for TV Stations.\n\nIn 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. Mr. 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\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-30-", 1, "2026-10-01T11:23:28Z", "2026-10-01T11:25:15Z"]], "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-questions-former-special-counsel-jack-smith-during-senate-judiciary-committee-hearing"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4960258267819881, "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"}