Jordan asks DOJ to investigate Jack Smith over House testimony
Rep. Jim Jordan accused former special counsel Jack Smith of lying to Congress, while Rep. Jamie Raskin called the referral baseless.
By Frankie Delgado · News Reporter
3 min read
Rep. Jim Jordan has sent the Justice Department a criminal referral targeting Jack Smith, the former special counsel who brought federal charges against President Trump, accusing him of giving false testimony to Congress.
Jordan, the Ohio Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, asked Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to investigate whether Smith should face criminal charges, CBS News reported. The Justice Department confirmed to CBS News that it had received the letter and said it “will investigate all evidence of criminal conduct.”
The referral does not require prosecutors to bring a case. The decision on whether to investigate further or seek charges rests with the Justice Department.
The fight over phone records and texts
Jordan’s referral grows out of the committee’s scrutiny of records obtained during Smith’s investigation into Trump’s actions after the 2020 election.
Last year, it was revealed that investigators had obtained phone records for several Republican lawmakers as part of that probe, according to CBS News. In a deposition, Smith testified that his team had not received the contents of calls or text messages because the records at issue were “toll records,” which show information such as numbers dialed rather than the substance of communications.
Republicans seized on new information last week from the Justice Department. In a letter to lawmakers, DOJ said Smith’s team obtained text messages between Trump-era White House staffers and dozens of members of Congress through a separate subpoena to the National Archives and Records Administration, CBS News reported.
Jordan said that information undercut Smith’s earlier testimony. In the referral, he accused Smith of making “materially false statements” and alleged that Smith improperly “failed to disclose” the National Archives subpoena.
“All individuals have an obligation to comply with a duly authorized congressional inquiry. Mr. Smith, a former public servant, is no different,” Jordan wrote, according to CBS News. “Yet his testimony included intentionally false statements designed to obstruct the Committee’s oversight.”
Democrats call the referral political
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, rejected Jordan’s allegations and called the referral “baseless and vindictive,” CBS News reported.
Raskin argued that Smith was questioned about subpoenas for Republican lawmakers’ toll records, not the separate request made to the National Archives. He said Smith answered the questions he was asked truthfully.
“The Republicans fault Mr. Smith for not reading the minds of congressional investigators and for not volunteering information they didn’t ask for,” Raskin wrote Wednesday night, according to CBS News. “This is absurd. Mr. Smith may be telegenic but he is not telepathic.”
CBS News reported that it had contacted representatives for Smith for comment. No comment from Smith was reported.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.