Jordan Seeks DOJ Review of Jack Smith

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan has formally asked the Justice Department to consider criminally prosecuting former special counsel Jack Smith, accusing him of making misleading statements to Congress during closed-door testimony about his investigations into Donald Trump. Jordan’s referral centers on Smith’s office obtaining toll records and text messages connected to Trump administration officials and some members of Congress while investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Jordan claims Smith was not fully candid about the scope of those records, and asks DOJ to examine whether Smith violated laws against making false statements to Congress. The Justice Department confirmed receipt of the referral and said it will review evidence of criminal conduct. The move comes amid a broader Republican effort to investigate Smith and his past prosecutions of Trump, which Trump himself has repeatedly condemned and has called for Smith to be jailed. Smith’s lawyers strongly reject Jordan’s accusation, saying his testimony was truthful and that Jordan’s referral relies on a selective reading of the record rather than any actual false statement. Democrats sharply criticized the referral as politically motivated. Rep. Jamie Raskin said the effort would fail in court and argued it was intended to harass Smith and conceal Republicans’ own role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The article also notes that obtaining toll records and reviewing communications between executive branch officials and members of Congress is a common investigative practice in federal cases, and that the Speech or Debate Clause generally protects legislative activity but does not prohibit prosecutors from reviewing such communications when investigating executive branch officials.

The article reports that House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has referred former special counsel Jack Smith for possible criminal investigation, alleging Smith made false statements during congressional testimony about his office’s handling of text messages in the Biden-era investigation into President Donald Trump. Jordan argues that newly released Justice Department records contradict Smith’s December 17, 2025 deposition, in which Smith said he did not seek or recall obtaining the content of lawmakers’ text messages. According to Jordan, DOJ records shared with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley suggest Smith’s team directly accessed text messages between members of Congress and White House employees from October 2020 through January 20, 2021, after a filter team meant to protect privileged material was bypassed. Jordan says this information warrants a DOJ review for a potential violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, which covers false statements. The article notes that neither the Justice Department nor Smith’s attorney immediately responded to requests for comment. The piece frames the referral as part of an ongoing partisan and legal dispute over the scope and conduct of Smith’s Trump investigation and the handling of privileged communications.

Representative Jim Jordan, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has asked the Justice Department to investigate and potentially prosecute former special counsel Jack Smith for alleged perjury tied to Smith’s testimony about his investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Jordan argues that Smith made false statements when he said that toll-record requests for lawmakers did not include the content of phone calls or texts. Smith’s lawyers reject the accusation, saying Republicans selectively quoted his testimony and are trying to weaponize the justice system against a nonpartisan career prosecutor. The referral does not itself trigger charges, but it increases political pressure on the Justice Department, especially because Trump and his allies have long sought retribution against Smith, who led the federal cases against Trump. The article explains that the dispute centers on whether Smith was asked narrowly about toll records, which are metadata, or whether his broader investigative work involved obtaining messages from lawmakers. Republicans, including Sen. Josh Hawley and Sen. Charles Grassley, have seized on newly disclosed records showing Smith’s team obtained communications involving White House officials and Trump allies, as well as some lawmakers, during the investigation. Democrats, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin, contend that Republicans are misrepresenting the testimony and that Smith’s answer was truthful in context. The piece frames the referral as part of the escalating political battle over Trump-era investigations and the use of law enforcement against perceived enemies, with Smith now standing at the center of a partisan fight over accountability, privilege, and the boundaries of criminal inquiry.