Were some of the greatest attacks on democracy in u. S. History, yet it can be easy to forget that all the horror, reaction, discussion, and coverage, for all the trials of people that stormed the capitol and the convictions of seditionists there was no coup probe of indictment for years. The man who led the january 6th rally, impeached for inciting an insurrection, that man, two years after those events, the person at the center of it all was not facing a serious coup probe let alone charges. Reporting shows quite the opposite. Not only was he not facing that, but the fbi and doj avoiding investigating trump for optics and review of the evidence. We all know that. That was the status quo for years. So, in our Special Report tonight, lets begin with the very simple question what changed . One thing, and its the kind of change in Law Enforcement that can change everything as so memorably put in 48 hours. Theres a new sheriff in town. And his name is reggie hamlin. A new sheriff came to town. His name is jack smith. And unlike bob mueller, he was a prosecutor who was unknown in america. Those other two known, they would run the fbi and doj. But smith stayed far from politics or big posts. He even stayed far from the continental u. S. Lately, doing Human Rights Prosecutions at the hague. He was known within legal circles as a nonpartisan no nonsense pit bull who worked hard and fast. Then, well, this part weve all learned once, jack smith went to work on this case, everyone got to know him quickly. Le. Jack is a really good prosecutor. Faster than a speeding bullet. He is really thorough. Very much like a bulldog in terms of what he once he get his teeth around it. Another no nonsense tough as Nails Prosecutor who will follow the facts and wont be intimidated. Jack smith is not playing. If anyone can take on trump, thes probably this guy. Hes a serious, sober minded prosecutor who is not going to be deterred. Jack smith clearly proved to be a legal foe unlike any trump has faced. Colleagues recalling how he doesnt like to sit there playing with his food. Certainly not jack smith does not play around. He moves fast and takes action, having found both the evidence and resolve to do what no one else in American History had done, to indict a former president. Then he did it again. Today an indictment was unsealed charging donald trump with Felony Violations of our National Security laws. Today an indictment was unsealed, charging donald j. Trump with conspireing to defraud the United States, conspireing to disenfranchise voters and conspireing and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding. Our laws that protect National Defense information are critical. The attack on our nations capitol on january 6th, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of american democracy. My office will seek a speedy trial. My office will seek a speedy trial. We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone. The department of justice has remind committed to ensuring accountability. Now, those are jack smiths only remarks ever of any kind across the nine months hes been Special Counsel. It was two minutes at the first indictment. About two and a half minutes at the second indictment of donald trump. We counted. Now, thats on purpose. Tonight right now were going to show you some of the rare footage of jack smith in action, including one of the few times that he actually explained why he takes this quiet and careful approach. His skepticism toward any society that would try to convict people through public leaking or public hype instead of incourt, careful evidence. We are airing this footage for the first time on the beat. I want to you hear on our Special Report, really take this in. Listen to jack smiths detailed explanation. We dont want to live in a society where someone is convicted based on whats in the newspapers. I can tell you very often we have cases that we investigate where there are allegations in the newspapers which, if those allegations were true and if those allegation were the complete story, i could see why the Average American would think that is corrupt, but we dont want to live in a society of a form of mob rule where we just get a few allegations without any process, convict somebody, but i think thats the role of the prosecutors to take allegations like that when theyre public and investigate with see if the facts actually back up whats there. Is the allegation and the source of it credible . Let the facts lead, make sure its credible, and dont do a lot of public hype through the media or otherwise in advance. Now, he was saying all that before taking on this Special Counsel role. Its interesting tonight to see that, well, it seems hes been consistent. Thats how he described it then, and thats how hes been acting and living through this role. Defendant trump not the first Head Of State that smith has put on trial, either. Thats experience you may have heard about. The Attorney General knew about it when he recruited jack smith. Heres some background on that. Now his past has caught up with kosovo is indicted in the hague. Hes been charged with war crimes and crime against humanity. Jack smith led that highstakes case. We actually have some of this rare footage of smith making the case in court, leading the prosecution. And before i show it to you as part of this report, let me remind you, this is not something weve seen in any of the trump hearings so far, smith overseeing other experienced prosecutors to do this. How did he get to oversee them . How did he get to this post . Here were going to see how he does it, jack smith striking a consistent and calm posture, sober in the courtroom prosecuting alleged war crimes. The truth will be laid before this court in the coming weeks. My office will be unrelenting and unstopping. Fair administration of justice requires building and fostering institutions that can protect those who seek justice. Mr. Mustafa used their power to victimize and to brutalize fellow kosovo al banians. No justification for the conditions under which they were held or the manner in which they were brutalized and tortured during their detainment. Watch the trials and follow. Watch ow this Court Functions and then judge. There can never be an Expiration Date on accountability. You will hear from victims who have waited two decades two decades to be heard. The charges here do not directly concern the events of the war in kosovo occurring over 20 years ago. They include attempts to intimidate people and to not telling this court what happened to them 20 years ago and attempts to on struck the wok of this institution at any cost. Thats pretty striking. Facing those documented horrors, that horror that people were put through to live through, and what that quest for u. S. J is might look like, you see jack smiths approach. He could have been more dramatic. There was obviously pathos, drama and sadness in what happened. He could have been louder. But he took that measured path. That was his approach. He also argued in that same trial that the authoritarian tried to use lies and exploit propaganda and the media as part of his criminal plots. Now, that might sound familiar here on the home front. Its a point that echos in jack smiths indictment of trump. While the u. S. Constitution does value a free press, which makes up its own minds with its freedom, in that very case, as Prosecutor Smith was careful to note something quite important, at least in the view of the law, that while the journalists would make up their own minds, many journalists there rejected fraudulent and propaganda documents from the accused. Take a listen. Heres smith in this rare court footage. The accused in, chitting their crimes, tried to amplify the damage they caused by Exhorting The Media in kosovo to public. Ethical journalists refused to publish the documents the accused tried to provide them. Jack smith couldnt have known, no one could have necessarily known how big a deal fraudulent documents furnished in interimmediate areas and hacks, and ultimately america pushed all the way up trying to get it into Vice President pences hands. He couldnt have known the parallels here, but there they are. At the Justice Department jark smiths last big job was leading the unit that prosecutes corrupt politicians. Its a post he prepared for with prior prosecutions of abuse in government, regardless of whether they were controversial or unpopular in the public realm, like a victorious prosecution and trial of a white police officer, garnering a 30year Prison Sentence that was at the time unheard of. But smith went right at it, just like hes taken on top figures in both parties. Consider someone who was once the democratic partys rising star. The rapid fall of nominee john edwards. Jack smith led that prosecution in 2011. John and i are honest and realistic with the American People. The story sending shock waves through the president ial campaign. After months of denials, john edwards admitted he had an affair while his wife battling cancer. The fall from grace for john edwards just as stunning and tonight a new low after a grand jury charged him with six felonies. A new low takes you back to grand jury proceeding there is that were moving a pace against at the time someone of the other party, democratic, and now where we followed a lot of those against republican donald trump. Smith oversaw the case, and later in the context of these types of cases in general not just edwards, but the tricky balance issues and lines. He explained a fair prosecution for corruption does require intent. We heard a lot about intent in his current coup case. And proving that can be hard. He recounted how Government Officials can be in denial. A persons intent. Did they do this for that . Did they act corruptly . Oftentimes when i go to speak to folks about their Corruption Programs and what sort of cases theyre doing, often times i go place and i hear, we dont have a Corruption Problem here, jack. My Immediate Reaction is, you definitely have a Corruption Problem. Some legal guffaws. Every place theres power and money and any kind of temptation will have at least the possibility of those problems or corruption. So if you dont think youre susceptible to it or anyone in your department is, then youre probably more susceptible than usual. In the edwards case, that theory was using Legal Campaign donations to conceal a mistress from voters. That fell apart at trial. Edwards found not guilty on one charge. Justice department did not appeal that case. One, jack smith was nonpartisan. Two, he was clearly aggressive. So aggressive he didnt actually win over the jury on that case. And three and this is so important right now, especially as trump allies and others want to make up stoies or tell you narratives or outright lies about doj or fbi or jack smith without looking at the record. Our point here in this Special Report is looking at the record, including a loss, the edwards loss. The third piece is that smith demonstrated a rescue for legal limits, the kind of measured professional humility. And again, weve gone through all of this and picked out the keys for you. This is something he has spoken about in a sometimes baffling legal lines that are drawn for pursuing politicians. Folk who is commit these crimes are sophisticated individuals, and by the large, they give the money and receive the money, benefits in all sort of complicated forms that make it not nearly as stark, not easy to report in five lines in a newspaper article. Because of that, because of how the crimes are committed, because theyre often committed by sophisticated people with great means, we do need laws that are broad enough to reach conduct. I mean, right now under the Honor Services statute as it exists, we cannot charge undisclosed conflicts of interest. Just imagine, just to follow up on that scenario. You have a mayor, and he takes bribes for city contracts. He takes bribes, puts money in his pocket for someone that shouldnt have gotten a contract. The American People are not getting what they paid for. Thats bribery. I can prosecute that mayor. That same mayor says you know what . I dont want the bribes. I want more money. Im going to start my own company and hide my interest in it. Im going funnel the contracts to me. I cant prosecute that case. And i think the Average American in terms of whats wrong, if you believe those facts, if those facts in an objective investigation are brought to light, i think the Average American wants to department of justice really important point there that he makes. I played it in full so you could really absorb it. He says i cant prosecute that case he also makes it clear that he thinks it would be good policy to be able to prosecute that case and go so far as to say he thinks most persons agree. If the politicians are selfdealing thats what the Corruption Laws ought to be for. Sounds rational. Notice where he draws the line. He can not go beyond that. He doesnt say, so we look for a loophole or trick or throw a different charge at hem themmer the ends justify the means or something you dont want anyone in power to indict, so prosecute, to jail to seek any level of punishment. You dont want those people playing fast and loose. It is striking. I wanted you to hear jack smith did the opposite. He said you might want the go farther. Might sound like corruptioning but i cant go beyond what the statute says, full stop. Thats how he prosecutes the cases. As Andrew Weissman and others have said, probably the most important trial in the history of the United States, in the history of the United StatesJustice Department. Jack smith is the one leading it. I told you this is one of our Special Reports. I have more footage in the conclusion when back in 60 seconds. Seconds. The citi custom cash℠ card automatically adjusts to earn you more cash back in your top eligible spend category. Hi. You dont have to keep tabs on rotating categories. This is the only rotating i care about. Or activate anything to earn. Your cash back automatically adjusts for you. Can i get a Cucumber Water . Earn 5 cash back that automatically adjusts to your top eligible spend category, up to 500 spent each Billing Cycle with the citi custom cash℠ card. I love it. [voice vibrating] our Special Report continues. Jack smiths view of accountability is pretty clear, and that may concern donald trump as well as unindicted coconspirators. Smith believes in a tough oldschool view that punishment matter because it deters future crimes. If you prosecute everyone who helped the coup attempt for example, the deterrence frame work is that then people who might otherwise consider doing this in the future will at least think twice or not go near the next coup attempt. As we have been going through this footage, the rare footage sometimes, here is jack smith on deterrence and how trials can bring fast and fair justice. I think one of the good things about this area of the law is the people who commit these offenses are deterrable. They have something to lose, and if you bring a case and show that the department of justice brings cases like this, other actors will not commit acts they otherwise would have done. The business of a prosecutor is accountability, individual accountability for crimes that can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. I know that truth never damages a cause that is just. Trials do not need to take years to complete, that justice can be thorough, reasoned, transparent, efficient, and fair. That is what jack smith sounds like on and off the job. And hes on the job of his life now. As part of our special coverage i want to bring in a former federal prosecutor who sat exactly in those shoes, renato mariotti. Good to be here. We were careful to show donald trump faces a prosecutor unlike any other. Smith has spoken a total of four and a half minutes in the entire tenure of this post. What do you glean from how he tried those other cases and how he sounded at other points in his career . Well, its really interesting, ari. I think probably the most striking thing we heard from him is him talking about understanding the limits of what he could do as a prosecutor and working within those limits to make sure that justice was done, right . He understood that, for example, he couldnt charge that Conflict Of Interest case, so he had to work around that. I think its important to understand what he did with the january 6th indictment. Heres a man who decided not to take an example and cite the charge, which would have created legal problems or slowed him down. Hes been dealt a difficult hand trying to, as you mentioned earlier, trying to rush to the finish line, trying to get this up before the election, and i think hes recognizing the fact that he has to secure a quick conviction here and is shaping indictments to do that. What do you see in his approach at the hague . As mentioned it would be equally valid to have a sort of loud or strong or more a motive presentation, certainly you and i have been around cases where a prosecutor dealing with crimes with terrible actions relatable or empathetic victims takes that tact. What do you think of the tact he took . I think well look at some of that footage of him at the hague. Look, the person hes taking is the right approach in my opinion