GOP transcript release reinforces Jack Smith’s conclusion on Jan. 6
A House Republican committee has released a transcript from December 17, 2025 of former special counsel Jack Smith that underscores a central conclusion of the federal investigation into Jan. 6: the attack on the U.S. Capitol would not have happened without Donald Trump.
The transcript, first reported by the Associated Press, captures Smith reiterating the logic behind his now-dismissed prosecution of Trump, which alleged that the president knowingly spread false claims about the 2020 election and used them to pressure officials and supporters in the weeks leading up to the riot.
Smith stated plainly that Trump’s actions almost five years ago were not incidental to Jan. 6 but foundational. Without Trump’s repeated claims of a stolen election and his encouragement of supporters to converge on Washington, Smith argued, the violence that unfolded at the Capitol would not have occurred.
The first is the evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy. These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him. The other co-conspirators were doing this for his benefit.
So our view of the evidence was that he caused it and that he exploited it and that it was foreseeable to him.
Republicans released the transcript as part of an effort to scrutinize Smith’s investigation, which ended after Trump’s return to office effectively halted federal prosecutions against him. But the document largely restates conclusions that prosecutors, congressional investigators, and multiple courts have previously articulated.
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The release arrives as Trump, now serving a second term, continues to characterize Jan. 6 as a protest that spiraled out of control and has cast himself as a victim of politically motivated investigations. The GOP committee’s decision to circulate Smith’s remarks has drawn renewed attention to the unresolved question of accountability for the attack.
While the transcript does not introduce new evidence or revive the closed case, it reinforces the historical record surrounding Jan. 6 — at a moment when Trump’s presidency has once again placed that record at the center of American political life.
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