developed

WASHINGTON — Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers in a closed-door interview on Wednesday that his team of investigators “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that President Donald Trump had criminally conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to portions of his opening statement obtained by The Associated Press.

He also said investigators had accrued “powerful evidence” that Trump broke the law by hoarding classified documents from his first term as president at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and by obstructing government efforts to recover the records.

“I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 election,” Smith said. “We took actions based on what the facts and the law required — the very lesson I learned early in my career as a prosecutor.”

He said that if asked whether he would “prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether the president was a Republican or Democrat.”

The private deposition before the House Judiciary Committee gives Smith his first chance to face questions, albeit behind closed doors, about a pair of investigations into Trump that resulted in since-abandoned criminal charges between the Republican president’s first and second terms in office. Smith was subpoenaed earlier this month to provide both testimony and documents as part of a Republican investigation into the Trump probes during the Biden administration.

The former special counsel cooperated with the congressional demand despite having volunteered more than a month earlier to answer questions publicly before the committee, an overture his lawyers say was rebuffed by Republicans.

“Testifying before this committee, Jack is showing tremendous courage in light of the remarkable and unprecedented retribution campaign against him by this administration and this White House,” one of Smith’s lawyers, Lanny Breuer, told reporters Wednesday. “Let’s be clear: Jack Smith is a career prosecutor, who conducted this investigation based on the facts and based on the law and nothing more.”

Trump told reporters at the White House that he supported the idea of an open hearing, saying: “I’d rather see him testify publicly. There’s no way he can answer the questions.”

Smith is expected to discuss both of his investigations of Trump but will not answer questions that call for grand jury materials, which are restricted by law, according to a person familiar with the investigation who insisted on anonymity to discuss the interview. He is also expected to correct what he regards as mischaracterizations from Republicans about his work, including about his team’s use of cellphone records belonging to certain GOP lawmakers, the person said.

Smith was appointed in 2022 to oversee the Justice Department investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden and his hoarding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Smith’s team filed charges in both investigations.

Smith abandoned the cases after Trump was elected to the White House again last year, citing Justice Department legal opinions that say a sitting president cannot be indicted.

Republicans who control Congress have sought interviews with at least some individual members of Smith’s team.

In recent weeks they have seized on revelations that the team, as part of its investigation, had analyzed the phone records of select GOP lawmakers from on and around Jan. 6, 2021, when pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to halt the certification of Trump’s election loss to Biden. The phone records reviewed by prosecutors included details only about the incoming and outgoing phone numbers and the length of the call but not the contents of the conversation.

Tucker and Mascaro write for the Associated Press.

Norris started this year with a win in Australia, but after that the first part of the season was a struggle. His team-mate Oscar Piastri had progressed significantly through some assiduous work with the team over the winter, and Norris was not feeling the car in the way he needed to be quick.

Developments over the winter had made the new car faster, but introduced what the drivers called a “numbness” to the front axle, which was preventing Norris’ ability to exploit the car.

A tweak to the front suspension was developed to improve Norris’ feel, and introduced in Canada in June. It was not an overnight fix, and was relatively minor in nature, but undoubtedly after that the trend line of Norris’ trajectory was a positive one.

Despite falling 34 points behind Piastri at the end of August, Norris has clinched the title just nine races later.

Norris attributes his resilience to the “good group of people around me, to support me, to direct me, help me, whether it’s been a good weekend or a bad weekend, people who always have my best interest at heart and are there to give me the right mentality when I’m down.

“Two reasons I’ve done well are: one, I’ve done a better job, so I’m performing better more often; and two, I’m not always more positive, but I’m more positive and less negative about when I have bad days and bad sessions. And I believe in myself a bit more that I can turn it around.

“A lot of work away from the track with different people. A lot of work at the track. But it all starts with my team around me.”

Stella has a phrase for this. He calls it “acknowledging the gap to perfection” – a description he has used for Alonso’s approach to his career. It means that however good a driver is, they look to their weaknesses, and work on mitigating them. It is a constantly evolving process.

F1 drivers generally don’t talk about this stuff, and if they do it tends to be in an allusive manner that tries to hide any weaknesses.

Carlin says: “He doesn’t see that as a weakness because he’s such an authentic, genuine person. It’s not even in his nature to hide that process.

“To some extent, you’ve got to be in the environment to challenge you. And although Lando’s had a few seasons in F1 now, he’s not had multiple seasons in condition to be a championship contender.

“So he’s continued to develop through his F1 career, but to some extent the rate of your development is constrained by the extent of your potential. And if your potential is limited by various factors, such as your car and relative pace to other teams, then that has an impact on how far you can develop at what pace.

“But when he’s been delivered with a car capable of challenging for the championship, his own development has accelerated to match that.

“So it’s with those great opportunities and those greatest challenges that his development rate has actually sped up, to kind of mirror-image that.”

Which should mean there is more to come.