releases: https://www.welch.senate.gov/welch-underscores-legitimacy-of-jack-smiths-investigation-into-president-trump-what-continues-to-be-beyond-dispute-is-that-january-6th-did-happen/
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| url | title | date | year | month | party | chamber | state | member_name | bioguide_id | domain | scraper | source | date_source | text | has_text | collected_at | updated_at |
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| https://www.welch.senate.gov/welch-underscores-legitimacy-of-jack-smiths-investigation-into-president-trump-what-continues-to-be-beyond-dispute-is-that-january-6th-did-happen/ | Welch Underscores Legitimacy of Jack Smith’s Investigation into President Trump: “What continues to be beyond dispute is that January 6th did happen.” | 2026-09-29 | 2026 | 2026-09 | Democrat | Senate | VT | Peter Welch | W000800 | www.welch.senate.gov | welch | https://www.welch.senate.gov/category/press-releases/ | scraper | WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, discussed the legality of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) investigation into President Trump’s role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection with former DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith. In his remarks, Senator Welch emphasized how President Trump’s repeated falsehoods about the results of the 2020 presidential elections and his conduct leading up to the January 6th riots warranted Smith’s investigations into President Trump. “Many of the questions or statements directed toward this prosecutor—you could put any other prosecutor there—but whoever was the one that was pursuing the question of legality of January 6th and documents in Mar-a-Lago, be facing the same personal attacks, system attacks, as Mr. Smith. What keeps puzzling me is why we can’t make a distinction between our legitimate political differences—we can fight it out—and the reality that January 6th happened. That happened,” said Senator Welch. “The idea that we are going to put a blindfold on as though January 6th didn’t happen, as though there weren’t documents down in Mar-a-Lago, means that we’re just giving a pass to what was the first time in the history of our country that violence was used in the United States Capitol in an effort to overturn the will of the American people.” Watch the Senator’s full remarks below: Read key excerpts from Senator Welch’s exchange with Mr. Smith: Sen. Welch: From a justice standpoint, January 6th happened. So, Mr. Smith, you didn’t have any decision on whether or not to bring the prosecution, except after you were appointed, correct? Mr. Smith: Yes. Sen. Welch: And you had to do what any prosecutor has to do, and that’s to make an exhaustive effort to accumulate the evidence and come to a conclusion about whether you have probable cause to proceed to convict beyond a reasonable doubt. Is that correct? Mr. Smith: That’s correct, we sought to collect facts, look at the law, and make a decision. Sen. Welch: Alright, and the other point that I think is really disturbing my colleagues—and with some understandable basis, as Ranking Member Durbin said—is getting the phone logs of Members of Congress. But as I understand your explanation, if you were doing an investigation that involved information that Rudy Giuliani called certain numbers—and he was a suspect, and you had his own words talking about pressuring to delay the outcome of this election—you’re not going after me individually. My number shows up in his call log, so then that’s how you get my number. Is that correct? Mr. Smith: Yes, and that we had an ample basis, in my view, evidentiarily to seek these toll records because they corroborated other information that we had from a variety of sources about this attempt to exploit the violence of January 6th in furtherance of the conspiracy. ••• Sen. Welch: We all know January 6th happened—we all were here, most of us were here. It was an assault, people were injured, property was desecrated, and it was a determined effort to overturn that election. And you proceeded on the basis of the facts found during your investigation, is that correct? Mr. Smith: Yes, that’s why and how we proceeded. ### | 1 | 2026-09-30T10:57:52Z | 2026-09-30T10:59:04Z |