Jack Smith says Trump privately acknowledged 2020 election loss
Testimony released by House Republicans shows former special counsel Jack Smith said Donald Trump admitted to others that he lost to Joe Biden, despite publicly claiming victory and facing now-dropped federal charges.
Jack Smith, the former Justice Department special counsel who brought two now-dropped criminal cases against US President Donald Trump, said that the Republican had acknowledged to others that he lost the 2020 election against former President Joe Biden, according to a transcript of a testimony by Smith. The US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee on Wednesday released 255 pages of transcript from Smith's testimony in mid-December, when he defended his investigation before the Republican-controlled panel. His private testimony came following months of disclosures from Trump appointees at the Justice Department and Republican lawmakers intended to discredit Smith's probe and bolster Trump's claims that the cases were an abuse of the legal system.
Publicly, Trump falsely claimed that he won the 2020 election. His supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the election. After taking office for a second time in January 2025, Trump pardoned the rioters. In the testimony, Smith was asked if Trump ever acknowledged "that he knew that he had actually lost the election" to Biden, according to the transcript. "Yes," Smith replied. "So this paragraph references different statements that he made in the presence of other people. One is that, 'It doesn't matter if you won or lost the election. You still fight like hell.' And then the other was, 'Can you believe I lost to this f'ing guy?' referring to Joe Biden."
The transcript showed Smith to be saying that he saw "these admissions as corroborative of the larger case." The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of work hours on Smith's testimony. Smith and his team secured indictments in 2023, accusing Trump of illegally retaining classified documents following his first term in office and plotting to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election. Smith dropped both cases after Trump won the 2024 election, citing a Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Smith has said his prosecutors followed justice department policy and were not influenced by politics. Trump and his allies have alleged political motivation.
https://www.trtworld.com/article/a96b04744c1e
Other articles where trump admits he knew he had lost the election:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-acknowledges-lost-2020-election-whisker-rcna169526
https://www.commoncause.org/articles/indictment-8-times-trump-knew-he-lost/
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So, the turmoil and lives lost on 1/6 despite knowing he had lost. The recent search of the GA voting records, despite knowing he had lost. All the lawsuits filed, despite knowing he had lost. On and on and on.
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