Jack Smith hit with criminal referral as GOP moves testimony fight toward prosecution
The Justice Department confirmed Wednesday it received a criminal referral from the House Judiciary Committee targeting former special counsel Jack Smith, who served under the Biden administration investigating former President Donald Trump.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, referred Smith to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, alleging the former federal prosecutor made false statements to Congress about his investigation's scope. Jordan specifically accused Smith of misleading lawmakers regarding whether his team accessed text messages from members of Congress.
"All individuals have an obligation to comply with a duly authorized congressional inquiry. Mr. Smith, a former public servant, is no different," Jordan wrote in his referral letter. "His conduct can only be understood as an effort to thwart the Committee's inquiry by intentionally making false statements and representations before Congress."
The controversy stems from documents released last week by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican. Those records revealed that Smith's team accessed text messages from 44 members of Congress and White House staff during investigations into Trump's handling of classified documents and alleged interference in the 2020 election.
Among those whose private communications were reviewed were Jordan and Grassley themselves, along with Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, and Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. The messages of several Trump administration officials were also collected, including former Vice President Mike Pence, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Ivanka Trump.
Grassley's office determined that Smith's investigators appeared to bypass established safeguards designed to protect privileged information. According to the documents, the team accessed messages that had not first been reviewed by a "filter team," a procedural checkpoint meant to prevent prosecutors from inadvertently obtaining protected communications.
When Smith testified before the House Judiciary Committee in December, he stated that his team only sought telephone toll records and denied examining the content of lawmakers' text messages.
"Toll records were sought for historical telephone routing information, collected after calls had taken place, identifying the incoming and outgoing call numbers, the time of the calls and their duration," Smith said during the deposition. "Toll records do not include the content of calls."
The Department of Justice confirmed receipt of the referral and indicated it would investigate the allegations.
"Will examine all evidence of criminal conduct," the department stated.
Smith has denied any wrongdoing in connection with the investigations that ultimately resulted in two federal indictments against Trump, both of which have since been dismissed following Trump's return to the White House.
The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin, condemned the referral as a distortion of the actual circumstances surrounding Smith's testimony.
"This referral deliberately distorts and misstates the facts, including what questions the Republicans actually asked at Mr. Smith's interview," Raskin said. "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."