The top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the Justice Department on Wednesday requesting a criminal investigation into former special counsel Jack Smith, accusing him of lying in a congressional deposition last year.
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Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said in a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that Smith “appears to have knowingly and knowingly made false statements of material fact that are inconsistent with new documents” obtained by the Senate Judiciary Committee this month.
Jordan asked the Justice Department to investigate Mr. Smith on criminal charges, writing that his committee had found “strong evidence” against him.
A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed receipt of the inquiry Wednesday and said it would “investigate any evidence of criminal activity.”
Mr. Smith has long been a target of President Donald Trump, who has despised Mr. Smith over his prosecution of the president.
FOX News first reported Jordan’s introduction.
In a letter to Jordan and Branch, Smith’s lawyers denied making any false statements during the deposition and wrote that Smith “provided honest and responsive answers and openly discussed his work as special counsel.”
“This referral was made not because Mr. Smith made a false statement, but because Mr. Smith acknowledged that he did not make a false statement, but because Mr. Smith did not proactively disclose information that did not respond to questions,” attorneys Peter Kosky and Lanny Breuer wrote.
They said the referrals “reflect an appalling zeal to weaponize the justice system by attacking nonpartisan career public servants who faithfully and fearlessly carried out their duties in accordance with the facts and the law.”
As special prosecutor, Smith oversaw two investigations that began in 2022. One case focused on election interference in the 2020 presidential election, and the other focused on allegations that Trump mishandled classified documents after his first term ended. Trump denied wrongdoing in both lawsuits, but they were dismissed in 2024 after winning a second term. Longstanding Justice Department policy prevents prosecutions of sitting presidents.
Jordan cited an exchange in Smith’s deposition during a Dec. 17 committee meeting when Smith was asked whether he would seek a “search warrant for the content of text messages from members.”
Smith replied, “No, I don’t remember that.”
Asked if he had only asked for toll records from the councillors, Smith said: “That’s correct.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the committee’s ranking member, said in a statement Wednesday that Jordan’s reference “deliberately distorts and misrepresents the facts, including what questions Republicans actually asked at Mr. Smith’s press conference.”
“Congressional Republicans never asked Jack Smith about the president’s record,” Raskin said.
Raskin claimed that the Republican committee did not ask whether messages from the congressmen were found on the cellphones of White House officials, whether they were included in the presidential records subpoenaed by Smith, or whether Smith’s team “has ever reviewed any text messages from the congressmen.”
“There’s no way Jack Smith would lie because Republicans didn’t even ask the questions that underpin their theory.”
Senate Republicans announced last week that they had obtained documents from the Justice Department showing that Mr. Smith and his team reviewed text messages sent by 44 members of Congress as part of their investigation into Mr. Trump.
Documents obtained by the Senate Judiciary Committee show the messages were sent to White House officials by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, mostly Republicans, during President Trump’s first term.
Smith’s team received a text message from the National Archives and Records Administration in August 2023. These included text messages from October 2020 to January 21, 2021, the commission announced on July 14.
The Senate Judiciary Committee argued that by not waiting for a “filter team” to assess and separate “privileged information” from these messages, Smith and his team violated protections guaranteed by the Constitution’s Speech and Discussion Clause.
Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a statement on July 14 that “Despite repeated warnings, Mr. Smith’s team overran the Constitution. Jack Smith has an obligation to answer, and I will be holding him accountable before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the coming months.”
Grassley was on the list of lawmakers whose messages were considered, along with Jordan, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), and longtime senators John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
