WASHINGTON (AP) — On Thursday, Republican lawmakers are set to intensely question former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith during a congressional hearing that will bring renewed focus to two high-profile criminal investigations involving Donald Trump in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential race.

After previously providing testimony in a closed session last month, Smith will now appear before the House Judiciary Committee in a public forum. This hearing is expected to showcase the deep partisan divides, with Republicans aiming to challenge Smith’s credibility and Democrats seeking to uncover further incriminating details concerning Trump’s actions.

Smith is prepared to defend his decision to file charges against Trump. The cases in question involve allegations that Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 presidential election results after losing to Joe Biden and improperly retained classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida.

In his opening statement, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, Smith plans to assert, “Our investigation yielded evidence beyond a reasonable doubt of President Trump’s criminal conduct.” He further notes, “If faced with the same facts today, I would pursue charges against a former president regardless of their political affiliation, be it Republican or Democrat.”

Smith will emphasize the principle that “no one should be above the law in our country,” underscoring his belief that legal accountability was necessary, stating, “The law required that he be held to account. So that is what I did.”

The hearing is unfolding against the backdrop of an ongoing Trump administration retribution campaign targeting the investigators who scrutinized the Republican president. The Justice Department has fired lawyers and other employees who worked with Smith, and an independent watchdog agency responsible for enforcing a law against partisan political activity by federal employees said last summer that it had opened an investigation into him.

“In my opinion, these people are the best of public servants, our country owes them a debt of gratitude, and we are all less safe because many of these experienced and dedicated law enforcement professionals have been fired,” Smith said of the terminated members of his team.

Smith was appointed in 2022 by Biden’s Justice Department to oversee investigations into Trump. Both investigations produced indictments against Trump, but the cases were abandoned by Smith and his team after Trump won back the White House because of longstanding Justice Department legal opinions that say sitting presidents cannot be indicted.

The hearing will be led by Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who told reporters on Wednesday that he regards Smith’s investigations as the “culmination of that whole effort to stop President Trump from getting to the White House.”

“Tomorrow he’ll be there in a public setting so the country can see that this was no different than all the other lawfare weaponization of government going after President Trump,” Jordan said, advancing a frequent talking point from Trump, who pleaded not guilty in both cases and denied wrongdoing.

At the private deposition last month, Smith vigorously rejected Republican suggestions that his investigation was motivated by politics or was meant to derail Trump’s presidential candidacy. He said the evidence placed Trump’s actions squarely at the heart of a criminal conspiracy to undo the election he lost to Biden as well as the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by a mob of his supporters at the U.S. Capitol.

“The evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy,” Smith said. “These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him. The other co-conspirators were doing this for his benefit.”

Smith is also expected to face questions about his team’s analysis of phone records belonging to more than half a dozen Republican members of Congress who were in touch with the president on the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2021. The records contained data about the participants on the calls and how long they lasted but not their contents.

It is unlikely that Smith will share new information Thursday about his classified documents investigation. A report his team prepared on its findings remains sealed by order of a Trump-appointed judge in Florida, Aileen Cannon, and Trump’s lawyers this week asked the court to permanently block its release.