WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is accusing former special counsel Jack Smith of lying to Congress and is asking the Justice Department to consider bringing criminal charges against him. Smith’s legal team is firing back, insisting he told the truth throughout his testimony.
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio sent a formal referral to the Justice Department on Wednesday, alleging that Smith made false statements during closed-door congressional testimony. The dispute centers on questions Smith faced about whether his team had obtained records from members of Congress during the investigation into President Trump’s attempts to reverse his 2020 presidential election defeat.
At the heart of the matter is a December 2025 exchange in which Smith was questioned about subpoenas issued for the toll records of certain Republican lawmakers. Toll records capture basic call data — such as the time, date, duration, and phone numbers involved — but do not include what was actually said or written.
When asked whether the toll records he requested from senators contained the content of phone calls, Smith answered, “No.” He gave the same answer when asked whether those records included the content of text messages.
Jordan argues those responses were deceptive in light of newly released documents from Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa. Those records show Smith had separately obtained the actual contents of text messages belonging to 44 lawmakers through a subpoena sent to the National Archives and Records Administration, which was seeking communications from various Trump advisers and aides.
“The responses provided by Mr. Smith gave the impression that neither Mr. Smith nor his team had access to the content of Members’ privileged text messages. We now know this to be false,” Jordan wrote in the referral.
Smith’s attorneys, Peter Koski and Lanny Breuer, responded in a letter to Jordan and Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. They described Smith’s answers as “unimpeachably truthful,” pointing out that he was directly responding to questions specifically about toll records — which, by definition, do not contain message content.
“During his testimony, Mr. Smith provided truthful, responsive answers and candidly discussed his work as Special Counsel,” Koski and Breuer wrote. “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.”
It’s worth noting that a criminal referral from Congress carries no legal weight on its own and does not require prosecutors to take action. However, the Justice Department under the current Trump administration has shown a willingness to pursue investigations and prosecutions of those considered adversaries of the president. Trump himself has referred to Smith as “deranged” and has called for his prosecution.
On Wednesday evening, the Justice Department confirmed it had received the referral and stated it “will investigate all evidence of criminal conduct.”
Smith had brought two separate cases against Trump — one involving alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, and another related to the alleged storage of classified documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Both prosecutions were dropped following Trump’s November 2024 election victory, with Smith citing longstanding Justice Department policy that a sitting president cannot be federally indicted.
Smith stepped down from the Justice Department in early 2025, ten days before Trump was sworn in for his second term.
