WASHINGTON (AP) — Former special counsel Jack Smith has forcefully defended his prosecutions of President Donald Trump and his investigative tactics. He pushed back against repeated Republican efforts to paint him and his team as partisan political operators during a Senate hearing Tuesday that featured a senator’s bungled attempt to accuse him of lying about a basketball game. The hearing came as Republicans have pushed for Smith to be prosecuted and offered a forum for them to assail him for what they contend were politicized prosecutions that unfolded at the height of the 2024 presidential race. Democrats rallied in defense of Smith, eliciting testimony on the legal and factual basis for the criminal cases against then-candidate Trump.