US senator grills Smith over Thaçi: After losing the big cases in America, you went to The Hague?

The former chief prosecutor of the Hague Specialist Chambers, Jack Smith, continued his testimony today before the US Senate Judiciary Committee, facing numerous questions from Republican senators.

The hearing focused on the investigations and prosecutions Smith had pursued against US president Donald Trump, with Republicans accusing him of abuse of office.

During the questioning, the debate also turned to Smith’s professional past at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.

Republican senator Eric Schmitt asked Smith about the period when he had served as chief prosecutor of the Specialist Chambers and had prosecuted former Kosovo president Hashim Thaçi.

“OK. After you lost all these high-profile cases in America, you went to The Hague, right? And you prosecuted the President of Kosovo in 2020?” Schmitt asked.

Smith answered briefly: “Yes, and he has just been convicted of over 300 acts of torture and 96 murders.”

Schmitt then followed up with another direct question.

“And then you got the chance to come back to get Trump, is that right?” the Republican senator said.

The Schmitt–Smith exchange thus also brought into focus the former US prosecutor’s role at the Specialist Chambers, where he had led the prosecution against Hashim Thaçi.

Smith later returned to the United States, where he took a role in the investigations and prosecutions against Donald Trump, as Telegrafi reports.