Which specific passages are blacked out in the House Judiciary Committee’s redacted Jack Smith transcript (provide page and line references)?

Checked on February 2, 2026
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Executive summary

The House Judiciary Committee released a 255‑page redacted deposition transcript of former Special Counsel Jack Smith on Dec. 31, 2025, but the public reporting and summaries do not enumerate the precise page-and-line citations of every blacked‑out passage in that official PDF; the PDF itself must be inspected to identify each redaction [1] [2] [3].

1. What the public record shows about redactions

Multiple news organizations report that the committee released a partially redacted transcript and video of Jack Smith’s closed-door deposition, and that redactions appear in the committee’s publicly posted PDF; Lawfare explicitly describes the transcript as “partially redacted,” and the committee’s own posted file is the primary source for where black boxes appear [4] [3].

2. Why sources do not list page-and-line redactions for readers

None of the mainstream articles or aggregations in the reporting provided to this analysis list an itemized catalog of every blacked‑out passage with page-and-line coordinates; outlets summarize themes and notable exchanges but stop short of transcribing or enumerating each redaction, leaving the granular mapping of page-and-line redactions to readers who examine the committee’s PDF directly [5] [6].

3. How to locate the specific blacked‑out passages (practical roadmap)

The single authoritative document showing the redactions is the committee’s posted transcript PDF; readers seeking exact page-and-line references must open that PDF and visually scan for redaction blocks (the file released by the committee is the only source that displays the blacked‑out text areas) [3].

4. What reporting highlights about the content surrounding redactions

Coverage emphasizes that the deposition focused on Smith’s two Trump prosecutions and subpoenas for toll records of lawmakers, and that Republicans criticized the investigations while Smith defended them; the redactions are reported in context of those subjects but the media pieces quote Smith and lawmakers around redacted passages rather than listing those redactions line‑by‑line [4] [6] [7].

5. Alternative viewpoints and possible motives for redactions

Republicans on the committee framed the release as transparency while retaining redactions that typically protect classified information, grand jury material, or privacy and law enforcement interests; critics—including Smith’s own lawyers, who urged full video release—argued the timing and partial redaction choice could be politically motivated, with some observers calling the late‑Dec. 31 release an attempt to bury the material [8] [9] [6].

6. Limitations of available reporting and the responsible conclusion

This analysis is constrained by the absence of any published, source‑verified list of each redaction’s page-and-line coordinates in the available reporting; therefore the responsible journalistic finding is that the specific passages blacked out can only be authoritatively identified by inspecting the committee’s official redacted PDF itself, which is the document cited throughout coverage [3] [4].

7. Next best step for anyone seeking exact citations

To produce the precise page-and-line references requested, open the House Judiciary Committee’s posted transcript PDF and note every instance of a redaction block with its page number and the nearest visible line numbers or surrounding text; that PDF is the primary evidence referenced by media and contains the actual black boxes that answer the question directly [3] [1].

Want to dive deeper?
Where in the Jack Smith deposition PDF are redaction boxes located (list page numbers) and what visible nearby text frames them?
What rules govern congressional redactions of deposition transcripts, and which categories (classified info, grand jury material, privacy) typically justify blackouts?
How have media outlets treated redacted committee transcripts in past high-profile cases, and which outlets have produced line-by-line redaction catalogs?