House Republicans are urging the Justice Department to launch a criminal investigation into former special counsel Jack Smith, alleging that Smith made false statements last year about his effort to gather phone records of lawmakers.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio, wrote DOJ late Wednesday to argue Smith "seemingly made willfully and intentionally false statements" when he answered questions under oath last December.
The criminal referral of Smith marks yet another step in a campaign by the Trump administration and its allies in Congress to pursue people who once investigated Trump. The Justice Department already has attempted to initiate criminal cases against former FBI Director Jim Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Smith has been a frequent target of Trump's ire on social media. "Justice at last???" Trump posted in the early morning hours Thursday amid news of the criminal referral.
Smith, a former head of the Justice Department's public integrity unit, oversaw two criminal probes of Trump. Grand juries indicted Trump for alleged interference in the 2020 election and for allegedly refusing to turn over classified materials he had collected at his Mar-a-Lago resort. Both cases ended before any trial could occur, partly because Trump won the 2024 election and headed back to the White House.
Lawyers for Smith released their own letter to Jordan and the DOJ Wednesday night, asserting he provided "truthful, responsive answers" to Congress last year.
"This referral reflects a chilling eagerness to weaponize the justice system by attacking a career, nonpartisan public servant who faithfully and fearlessly performed his duties by following the facts and the law," wrote lawyers Lanny Breuer and Peter Koski.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland lawmaker who serves as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that the referral of Smith would be "laughed out of court" if it ever reaches a federal judge.
"This referral deliberately distorts and misstates the facts, including what questions the Republicans actually asked at Mr. Smith's interview," Raskin said. "Jack Smith could not have lied because Republican Members never even asked the question their theory is based on."
The testimony at the heart of the dispute concerns subpoenas Smith's prosecution team issued for phone records of lawmakers in contact with top White House officials and allies some six years ago. Smith also gathered text messages from the National Archives from White House phones that included exchanges between White House aides and lawmakers. Republicans in Congress never asked Smith directly about that, Smith's lawyers said in their new letter, and now want to punish him for not "proactively disclosing that."
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