Former special counsel Jack Smith testified before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee last week about his investigation of President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Our analysts evaluated four articles and two videos published by media outlets in our Topic of the Week.

Articles from Associated Press (AP) and the CNN website were rated as “a mix of fact reporting and analysis” with a “middle/balanced” bias. The AP article quotes portions of Smith’s testimony, such as witness testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, and the questions from lawmakers about subpoenas of congressional phone toll records (from a Republican) and the threat to democracy (from a Democrat). It provides background about Smith and the investigation. 

The CNN article is framed as “five takeaways” from the hearing, including the differences in questioning from Republican and Democratic lawmakers; the debate over the legal use of phone records as part of the investigation; Smith sticking “to the script” during his testimony; his warnings about “catastrophic” threats to democracy; and listing “notable attendees” at the hearing. Analysts noted that the short video that accompanies the article expresses support for Smith.

On the left, analysts rated an article from Salon and a video from MS NOW (formerly MSNBC). Both were placed in the “opinion” category of reliability and in the “hyper-partisan left” category of bias. The Salon article concludes in the headline: “Trump has shattered the rule of law.” The article states that “destruction of the rule of law is now in full effect as the president of the United States openly abuses his power to wreak revenge on his political enemies, allows paramilitary troops to commit mayhem in the streets of American cities by defying all rules, norms and legal constraint.” It states that the U.S. could have been “spared a second Trump presidency” if Smith’s case had been prosecuted.

MS NOW aired “Special Coverage” following Smith’s testimony at the hearing. A video from the primetime show, which featured a panel of MS NOW hosts, focuses on specific testimony about how President Trump, his administration and supporters have threatened Smith because of his work on the case. The hosts describe the current U.S. Justice Department and how it has changed during President Trump’s second term. Analysts noted that all panelists expressed support for Smith and criticism of Trump. One panelist summarized Smith’s testimony as “Donald Trump belongs in prison.” Said another: “… what you saw today were Donald Trump’s best students, students in Trumpian lying. They just think they can go into a committee hearing and lie and lie and lie.”

On the right, analysts evaluated an article from Blaze Media and a video from the DeVory Darkins YouTube channel. Both were found to be “selective or incomplete/unfair persuasion.” The article focuses on an exchange between Smith and Republican U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill. During the hearing, Gill accused Smith of secretly surveilling members of Congress and “stomping on constitutional protections.” The article quotes extensively the back-and-forth between Gill and Smith. Analysts found the article incomplete, as it focuses on only one small part of the testimony and uses it to platform the Republican narrative that Smith’s investigation of Trump was abusive and unconstitutional. The article was given a bias rating of “strong right.”

In the video, host DeVory Darkins declares, “We already know Jack Smith was weaponized by the federal government for political reasons to target Donald Trump.” The video headline and description proclaim that the GOP “humiliates” and “obliterates” Smith during the hearing. Darkins calls Democrats “shameless,” calls CNN’s Jake Tapper “Fake Tapper,” and calls some of the audience members of the hearing, including Capitol police officers, “unprofessional” people with a “derangement towards this administration.” He accuses Smith of not answering questions and says January 6 is a “derangement for a lot of people out there.” Analysts found that selective clips from the hearing were used to argue Republican viewpoints and to support pro-Trump rhetoric. Because of the insults in the video, it received a bias rating of “hyper-partisan right.”

Want to see if you agree with our analysts? New Topics of the Week are posted on the website each Monday. Read the articles and watch the videos yourself, then come back on Wednesday to compare your scores with those of our analysts. Learn more here.