| Newsom: US will return as global leader |
Denis Balibouse/ReutersAmerica’s global leadership is “in dormancy” but not dead, California Governor Gavin Newsom told Semafor’s Ben Smith at the World Economic Forum Thursday. Newsom called Trump an “ invasive species” defined by “corruption and graft at a scale we’ve never seen in American history,” but rejected the prevailing Davos view that he represents a historic rupture. Newsom also defended his strategy of mirroring the “deeply unbecoming” personal insults Trump and his aides lob at enemies, waving red kneepads on subservient American leaders, and arguing that style is simply the only way to counter Trump: “I was doing my 10 point plans before — and I don’t think any of you would’ve been here this morning had I done that,” he said.
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Jack Smith to Testify Before Congress on Trump Investigations
The appearance provides Mr. Smith with what is likely to be his best opportunity to challenge President Trump’s assertion that he was persecuted for his politics, not for his misdeeds.
By Glenn Thrush and Alan Feuer
Glenn Thrush reported from Washington, and Alan Feuer from New York.
Jan. 22, 2026Updated 6:09 a.m. ET
Jack Smith never got his day in court. But he is finally getting his day in the court of public opinion.
Mr. Smith, the special prosecutor who twice indicted Donald J. Trump, is set to appear at a public hearing of the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday in a long-awaited confrontation that pits Mr. Trump’s defenders against the man who tried, and failed, to hold him to account.
The hearing poses significant risks to Mr. Smith, who has said he believes Mr. Trump and his appointees will seize on the smallest misstep to investigate, prosecute and humiliate him. But it also provides him with what is likely to be his best opportunity to challenge Mr. Trump’s justification for deploying the Justice Department to pursue his enemies: that he was persecuted for his politics, not for his misdeeds.
“No one should be above the law in our country, and the law required that he be held to account,” Mr. Smith is expected to say, according to a copy of his opening remarks. “So that is what I did.”
Mr. Smith’s three-page statement represents the summation he was never allowed to deliver in a courtroom, and concludes that Mr. Trump “engaged in criminal activity” that undermined democracy and the rule of law.
nytimes.com |
