House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) is ramping up the investigation into former Special Counsel Jack Smith, demanding he testify about his “politically motivated investigations” into President Donald Trump following the revelation that his team tracked phone calls of Republican senators.
A Tuesday letter addressed to the ex-prosecutor stated, “your testimony is necessary to understand the full extent to which the Biden-Harris Justice Department weaponized federal law Enforcement.”
“Among the disturbing tactics employed in that prosecution, your team sought to silence President Trump by restricting his public statements about the case, conducted an unnecessary and abusive raid of his residence, attempted to improperly pressure defense counsel with the promise of political patronage, and manipulated key evidence in the investigation,” Jordan wrote, before referring to an “alarming document” released last week by FBI Director Kash Patel.
After a search of files hidden in a “lockbox” that was placed in a “vault,” Patel revealed that communication records belonging to GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham (SC), Marsha Blackburn (TN), Ron Johnson (WI), Josh Hawley (MO), Cynthia Lummis (WY), Bill Hagerty (TN), Dan Sullivan (AK), Tommy Tuberville (AL), and Rep. Mike Kelly (PA) were handed over to Smith’s “Arctic Frost” team after they subpoenaed major phone companies in 2023.
“Several members” of Smith’s special counsel team failed to fully cooperate with the Judiciary Committee’s questioning, with Jordan saying former Senior Assistant Special Counsel Thomas Windom “refused to answer” how many other members of Congress were investigated as part of the Trump probes under the Biden administration, or if there were additional records regarding members that were “swept up by a legal process” pursuant to that investigation.
Windom said multiple times during the questioning, “I respectfully decline to respond for the reasons stated by my counsel.”
Former Counselor to the Special Counsel Jay Bratt reacted similarly during his interview with the committee, Jordan noted:
Similarly, former Counselor to the Special Counsel Jay Bratt invoked the Fifth Amendment approximately 75 times during his interview with the Committee. He refused to answer key questions necessary for the Committee’s oversight, including whether the purpose of the classified documents investigation was to affect the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, whether the raid on Mar-a-Lago was intended to capture political intelligence, who he met with during his three visits to the Biden-Harris White House, and why he pressured defense counsel using the promise of political patronage.
Patel has already fired at least some FBI agents connected to the surveillance of the nine lawmakers, and the U.S. Office of Special Counsel announced a probe into Smith himself in August, Breitbart News reported.
The ex-special counsel rose to controversy when he brought criminal charges against Trump over the 2020 election and classified documents, but the charges were later dropped.
Jordan concluded his message by demanding Smith schedule an interview with the committee “as soon as possible, but no later than 10:00 a.m. on October 28, 2025.”
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