Jack Smith’s testimony before Congress did more than expose weaknesses in his own case against President Trump. It also laid bare just how partisan the entire January 6th investigation had become—and how willing Democrats were to elevate sensational claims they knew could never survive real scrutiny.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan zeroed in on one of the January 6th Committee’s most infamous moments: the prime-time hearing on June 28, 2022, built almost entirely around the committee’s star witness, Cassidy Hutchinson. 

Jordan reminded Smith that Hutchinson was “their star witness” in what he described as a “staged and choreographed hearing” produced by a former ABC News president.

She was the only witness that night, and her testimony delivered a Hollywood-ready storyline.

Among Hutchinson’s claims was the outlandish assertion that President Trump “lunged across the back seat, grabbed the steering wheel, tried to drive the car to the Capitol.”

Jordan pressed Smith directly. “I just want to know, you think she was lying?”

Smith’s response immediately deflated the J6 committee’s narrative.

“My recollection of her testimony about that is that it was secondhand,” Smith said, explaining that she “said she’d heard that from somebody.”

Jordan then walked Smith through the basic facts the January 6th Committee chose to ignore. Tony Ornato, the White House deputy chief of staff for operations, denied the incident ever happened. So did Bobby Engel, the Secret Service agent who was actually in the car when Hutchinson claimed the incident occurred. Both men said they first heard the story when Hutchinson told it on national television.

Jordan asked the obvious question: “Did you ever confirm her testimony about this particular incident?”

Smith danced around it before conceding the truth.

After Jordan cut him off and demanded a clear answer, Smith admitted, “We interviewed … another firsthand witness, uh, who was in the car, uh, who did not confirm, uh, that that had happened.”

That admission alone undercut one of the January 6th Committee’s most viral claims. It also raised a larger issue about prosecutorial judgment. Jordan reminded Smith of his own sworn deposition testimony, where Smith had acknowledged serious credibility problems with Hutchinson. Smith had told the committee at the time, “My recollection with Ms. Hutchinson was a number of the things that she gave evidence on were secondhand… hearsay.”

Jordan went further, quoting Smith’s own words about how a competent defense attorney would handle Hutchinson. Smith had said, “If I were a defense attorney and Ms. Hutchinson were a witness, the first thing I would do is seek to preclude her testimony because it was hearsay.”

Smith confirmed that statement under oath. “Yes, that’s correct, sir.”

The exchange became even more revealing when Jordan asked whether Smith still planned to put Hutchinson on the witness stand at trial. Smith refused to rule it out, saying only that prosecutors had “a large choice of witnesses.”

Jordan then cited reporting from Washington Post journalists Carol Leonnig and Aaron Davis, whose book detailed internal doubts within Smith’s own team. According to the book, “Jack Smith had wondered whether some of Hutchinson’s claims might be relied upon at trial.” It continued, “Ultimately, however, Trump administration officials uniformly fiercely disputed her accounts under oath. Prosecutors on your team told Smith they wouldn’t want to use Hutchinson as a witness in court, and Smith agreed.”

In short, Democrats built a prime-time spectacle around Hutchinson and cited her hundreds of times, while Smith admitted her claims were hearsay, unverified by firsthand witnesses, and too unreliable for his own prosecutors to use at trial.

The message was unmistakable.

Democrats were willing to put an unreliable witness with unsubstantiated allegations front and center to push the narrative they wanted to sell to the American public.

At the same time, the special counsel tasked with bringing criminal charges could not even vouch for the star witness or her allegations.

In trying to defend his investigation, Jack Smith instead confirmed that the January 6th investigation was more about pushing a narrative than getting the facts.

President Trump has his own views, as always...