EXCERPT:
HAWLEY: “Two full years before this deposition, you were in possession of text messages from 44 members of Congress that you went and subpoenaed. You read them within 30 minutes, the Department of Justice told this committee. They said that within an hour of receiving those text messages, your team was reading them. And yet, not only did you not notify any member of Congress whose text messages you obtained pursuant to your process, you told the House two full years later, having read all 44 members' messages, you told them you'd never gotten messages, you'd never requested messages from any member of Congress. That was a lie, Mr. Smith. And you may try your lawyer your way out of it. Well, it wasn't from the member, it was from the archives. You knew exactly what you were being asked. And you deliberately misled them. You're a smart guy. I think that's pretty clear. But you use your ability and the powers of your office to lie to the court, to lie to Congress, to lie to the American people, to lie to the House. It's the worst abuse of prosecutorial power in the history of the United States. And all I have to say is, I'm glad you failed. I don't know what our democracy would be like if you had succeeded in your effort to interfere in the workings of a presidential election. If it were up to me, I'd charge you with perjury. But you should certainly be disbarred. And I can only pray that nothing like this will ever happen again in the United States of America.”
