House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan wants former special counsel Jack Smith to sit for an interview with his panel.
The Ohio Republican sent a letter Tuesday demanding testimony from the lead Biden-era attorney whose investigations into President Donald Trump led to a number of felony charges that were ultimately dropped after the 2024 election.
It follows revelations last week that Smith’s probe obtained the phone records of a number of sitting Republican lawmakers as part of his inquiry into Trump’s effort to subvert the 2020 election results, culminating in the attacks on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“As the Committee continues its oversight, your testimony is necessary to understand the full extent to which the Biden-Harris Justice Department weaponized federal law enforcement,” Jordan wrote to Smith.
The panel has already conducted interviews with other prosecutors who were involved in the investigations into Trump in the four years he was out of office, including Jay Bratt, Thomas Windom and J.P. Cooney.
Jordan asserted in his Tuesday letter that those individuals have been uncooperative with the House Judiciary Committee, and that Smith himself has so far failed to respond to earlier requests to turn over documents.
“As the Special Counsel, you are ultimately responsible for the prosecutorial misconduct and constitutional abuses of your office,” said Jordan.
The GOP’s targeting of Smith comes as the party has sought to portray the Biden DOJ as retributive against the former Trump’s political foe. Meanwhile, Trump is leveraging his power over the Justice Department to attack his own adversaries, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey.
James and Comey were indicted last week and denied the allegations of wrongdoing.
Senate Republicans are also eager for oversight into Smith’s collection of phone records of lawmakers, calling on Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley to hold hearings on the subject. Grassley has so far been noncommittal on the subject.
A lawyer representing Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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