July 23 (UPI) — Rep. Jim Jordan, one of President Donald Trump’s staunchest allies and head of the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee, has referred former special counsel Jack Smith to the Justice Department for investigation, alleging he lied during congressional testimony in December.
Jordan has been investigating Smith and his criminal investigations into Trump since at least June 2023, alleging the probes were partisan and politically motivated.
In the letter dated Wednesday and addressed to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Jordan said he has “strong evidence” showing that Smith “knowingly made false statements” during his Dec. 17 deposition to the committee.
“While testifying under oath, Mr. Smith seemingly made willfully and intentionally false statements of material fact that contradict new documents obtained by the committee from the Department of Justice,” the Ohio Republican said.
Smith was appointed special counsel in November 2022 by the Biden administration to investigate allegations that Trump mishandled classified information following his first term as president and alleged efforts by Trump to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
He brought federal criminal charges against Trump in both cases in 2023, but neither case ever went to trial. After Trump won re-election in 2024, Smith wound down both cases. In January 2025, ahead of Trump’s inauguration, Smith resigned.
Trump, his administration and his allies have since continued to portray Smith as a political adversary. Since returning to the White House, the Trump administration has launched a review of Smith and his investigations, ordered the suspension of security clearances held by lawyers at the firm that represented him and Trump has continually attacked him in public.
In October, Jordan demanded that Smith testify about his criminal probes following revelations that his team had obtained the non-content toll records and communications metadata of nine Republican members of Congress concerning calls involving the lawmakers in the days before and after the Jan 6 insurrection.
The Wednesday letter to Blanche alleges that Smith lied during his Dec. 17 testimony concerning these toll records and separately obtained text-message content.
During the testimony, when asked if he and his team sought a search warrant for the content of any text messages from members of Congress, Smith replied, “No, I don’t recall.”
Asked if the records they requested included the content of phone calls and text messages, Smith replied “No” to both.
“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 said.
He said that the Justice Department provided the committee with documents on July 14 showing that Smith’s team had obtained text-message content involving members of Congress, including communications Jordan described as potentially privileged.
“This information calls into question the completeness and accuracy of statements that Mr. Smith made under oath to the committee regarding his team’s access to the content of members’ texts,” Jordan said.
Lawyers representing Smith rejected the accusations, describing Jordan’s referral in a letter to the lawmaker and Blanche as “based on a spurious claim that Mr. Smith provided false testimony during his eight-hour deposition.”
“The referral is made not because Mr. Smith made a false statement — the letter concedes he did not — but because he did not proactively disclose information that was not responsive to a question asked,” the Covington lawyers said in the letter obtained by Axios.
The lawyers said the toll-record subpoenas that were the subject of the questioning sought communications metadata and did not seek the content of calls or text messages.
“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,” the lawyers said.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., ranking member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, lambasted Jordan and his Republican Party over the referral, saying they “embarrassed themselves again in this investigation.”
“This referral deliberately distorts and misstates the facts, including what questions the Republicans actually asked at Mr. Smith’s interview,” he said in a statement.
“The Republicans fault Mr. Smith for not reading the minds of congressional investigators and for not volunteering information they didn’t ask for. This is absurd. Mr. Smith may be telegenic but he is not telepathic.”
“This referral, if ever brought before a judge, will get laughed out of court,” Raskin continued.