Republican lawmakers are poised to grill former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith at an open hearing, focusing fresh attention on two criminal investigations that shadowed Donald Trump during his 2024 presidential campaign.
Smith testified behind closed doors last month. Thursday's House Judiciary Committee hearing is likely to feature starkly partisan questioning, as Republicans try to undermine the former Justice Department official and Democrats seek to elicit new and damaging testimony about Trump's conduct.
Smith is standing by his decision as special counsel to bring charges accusing Trump of conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden and hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
In Switzerland, Trump inaugurated his " Board of Peace " to lead efforts at maintaining a ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas, insisting that "everyone wants to be a part" of the body that could eventually rival the United Nations — despite many U.S. allies opting not to participate. Follow live updates from Davos.
The House Oversight Committee meanwhile advanced resolutions to hold former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress over the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, opening the prospect of the House using one of its most powerful punishments against a former president for the first time.
And Federal immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people's homes without a judge's warrant, according to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press, marking a sharp reversal of longstanding guidance meant to respect constitutional limits on government searches.
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Jack Smith says investigators found ‘proof beyond a reasonable doubt’ of Trump crimes
The former Justice Department special counsel will tell lawmakers Thursday that he stands behind his decision to bring charges against Trump.
“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity,” Smith will say, according to a copy of his opening statement obtained by The Associated Press. “If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether that president was a Republican or a Democrat.”
“No one should be above the law in our country, and the law required that he be held to account. So that is what I did,” Smith will say.
▶ Read more about Smith's public hearing testimony
Immigration officials allowed suspect in $100 million jewelry heist to self deport, avoiding trial
Federal prosecutors were stunned when immigration authorities allowed a suspect in a $100 million jewelry heist to deport himself to South America last month as they prepared for his trial.
Jeson Nelon Presilla Flores was one of seven people charged last year with stealing the jewels from a Brink’s truck at a rest stop north of Los Angeles in 2022. He faced up to 15 years in federal prison if convicted in what’s believed to be the largest jewelry heist in U.S. history.
Instead, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported him to Ecuador after he requested voluntary departure.
Flores lawyer wants the case dismissed. Prosecutors asked a judge to keep the charges pending. The jewelers who lost millions of dollars worth of diamonds, emeralds, gold, rubies and designer watches want answers. ICE didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Steep declines in homicide rates found around US, report shows
A report issued Thursday by the Council on Criminal Justice is showing a 21% decrease in the homicide rate from 2024 to 2025, based on data collected from 35 American cities. That’s about 922 fewer homicides last year amid decreases in 31 of the cities studied.
Elected officials at all levels — both Democrats and Republicans — have been claiming credit for the steep declines. But experts say the trends are so widespread that local decisions aren’t likely responsible. Republicans have rushed to credit tough-on-crime moves like deploying the National Guard and surging immigration agents. But the data show that cities with no surges of troops or agents saw similar historic drops in crime.
The council’s CEO and president, Adam Gelb, says “it’s a dramatic drop to an absolutely astonishing level,” but “there’s never one reason crime goes up or down.”
▶ Read more about drops in crime across the United States
Judge tosses lines of NYC’s only Republican House seat, as state enters redistricting wars
A judge on Wednesday threw out the boundaries of the only congressional district in New York City represented by a Republican, ordering the state to redraw its borders because its current composition unconstitutionally dilutes the votes of Black and Hispanic residents.
Justice Jeffrey Pearlman said Republican U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis' district, which includes all of the borough of Staten Island and a small piece of Brooklyn, should be reconfigured before this year's midterm elections. Republicans are expected to appeal as this new front opens in national gerrymandering that has both political parties fighting to control the U.S. House.
Lawmakers in about a third of states have considered redrawing their congressional districts after Trump pushed Republicans to craft new lines to help them hold onto their narrow House majority. Democrats have countered with their own redistricting efforts, at times hampered by laws they had passed intended to prevent partisan gerrymandering.
▶ Read more about the ruling
Republicans and some Democrats back contempt for Clintons in House Epstein probe
A House committee advanced resolutions Wednesday to hold former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress over the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, opening the prospect of the House using one of its most powerful punishments against a former president for the first time.
In bipartisan votes, the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee approved the contempt of Congress charges, setting up potential votes in the House early next month. In a rare departure from party lines, some Democrats supported the contempt measures against the Clintons, with several progressive lawmakers emphasizing the need for full transparency in the Epstein investigation.
The repercussions of contempt charges loomed large, given the possibility of a substantial fine and even incarceration. Still, there were signs of a potential thaw as the Clintons appeared to be searching for an off-ramp to testify. In addition, passage of contempt charges through the full House was far from guaranteed, requiring a majority vote — something Republicans increasingly struggle to achieve.
▶ Read more about the Oversight Committee's vote
Denmark says its sovereignty is not negotiable after Trump’s Greenland about-turn
Denmark's prime minister insisted that her country can't negotiate on its sovereignty on Thursday after Trump said he agreed on a "framework of a future deal" on Arctic security with the head of NATO. And NATO said its secretary general, Mark Rutte, hadn't proposed any compromise to Danish sovereignty.
Trump on Wednesday abruptly scrapped the tariffs he had threatened to impose on eight European nations to press for U.S. control over Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark. It was a dramatic reversal hours after he insisted he wanted to get the island "including right, title and ownership" — though he also said he would not use force.
He said "additional discussions" on Greenland were being held concerning the Golden Dome, a multilayered, $175 billion missile system that for the first time will put U.S. weapons in space. Trump offered few details, saying they were still being worked out.
▶ Read more about Denmark's reaction
Trump rolls out his Board of Peace at Davos, but many top US allies aren’t participating
Trump on Thursday inaugurated his " Board of Peace " to lead efforts at maintaining a ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas, insisting that "everyone wants to be a part" of the body that could eventually rival the United Nations — despite many U.S. allies opting not to participate.
In his speech at the World Economic Forum, Trump sought to create momentum for a project to map out a future of the war-torn Gaza Strip that has been overshadowed by his threats to seize Greenland, and then by his dramatic retreat from that push.
“This isn’t the United States, this is for the world,” he said, adding, “I think we can spread it out to other things as we succeed in Gaza.”
The new peace board was initially envisioned as a small group of world leaders overseeing the ceasefire, but has morphed into something far more ambitious — and skepticism about its membership and mandate has led some countries usually closest to Washington take a pass.
▶ Read more about the Board of Peace
Jack Smith is set to testify in public about his Trump investigations
Republican lawmakers are poised to grill former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith on Thursday at a congressional hearing that's expected to focus fresh attention on two criminal investigations that shadowed Donald Trump during his 2024 presidential campaign.
Smith testified behind closed doors last month but returns to the House Judiciary Committee for a public hearing likely to divide along starkly partisan lines between Republican lawmakers looking to undermine the former Justice Department official and Democrats hoping to elicit new and damaging testimony about Trump's conduct.
Smith will tell lawmakers that he stands behind his decision as special counsel to bring charges against Trump in separate cases accusing the Republican of conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden and hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
▶ Read more about Smith's testimony
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