House Judiciary Committee Chair Requests DOJ Review of Special Counsel Jack Smith
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Republican Rep. Jim Jordan asked the Justice Department to examine whether special counsel Jack Smith violated the law in his testimony, prompting a DOJ acknowledgment of the referral and responses from both sides.
Republican Representative Jim Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to the Justice Department on Wednesday asking prosecutors to consider whether special counsel Jack Smith committed a false-statement offense in his closed-door testimony last year. Jordan alleges that Smith misled the committee about the scope of his investigation, which included obtaining text messages and phone-call logs involving members of Congress and Trump-administration officials.
The Justice Department confirmed it had received the referral and said it "will investigate all evidence of criminal conduct," according to a department spokesperson. The request follows a broader Republican effort in the current Congress to scrutinize the Smith investigation.
Smith’s legal team responded that his answers were "unimpeachably truthful" and characterized Jordan’s accusation of a false statement as "spurious." They argued the referral seeks to target a career public servant rather than address any legal violation.
Democratic Ranking Member Jamie Raskin condemned the move, stating that any such referral would be dismissed by a judge and described it as an attempt to harass Smith. He added that the action aims to deflect attention from the members’ own involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Jordan’s letter also claims that Smith’s team obtained text messages from 44 members of Congress, potentially containing privileged content, and asks the DOJ to assess whether Smith broke the law that prohibits false statements to Congress. Smith’s counsel maintains that the investigation relied on toll-record data, not the content of communications, and that the use of such records does not violate the Speech or Debate Clause, which protects legislative communications but does not bar prosecutors from reviewing messages exchanged with executive officials.
The Justice Department regularly receives criminal referrals from Congress and decides independently whether to pursue charges or further investigation.