Former special counsel Jack Smith is maintaining his innocence after House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, referred Smith to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for potential criminal charges.
Jordan accused Smith of lying while under oath during a deposition before his House GOP-led panel in December 2025.
But Smith’s lawyers rejected the referral as “meritless” in a letter to Jordan and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche Wednesday night.
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“Mr. Smith agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee fully cognizant of the risk that President Trump’s Justice Department would try to find something in his testimony to serve as the basis for a criminal charge,” Smith’s attorneys wrote in the letter obtained by Fox News Digital.
“This risk existed not because Mr. Smith would make a false statement, but because President Trump has repeatedly ordered that Mr. Smith be prosecuted and jailed. That is not the rule of law. And it contravenes the principles that are critical to the vitality of our democracy.”
Smith was tapped to investigate whether President Donald Trump and his allies conspired to overturn the 2020 election results and whether the president improperly handled classified documents. Trump has denied wrongdoing in both probes, which ended after the 2024 presidential cycle.
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Jordan’s letter to Blanche Wednesday night, first reported by Fox News Digital, argued that “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,” the letter adds.
The referral comes after Smith faced mounting scrutiny from Republicans over allegedly weaponizing DOJ and violating constitutional privacy protections.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, released documents last week showing Smith’s team read the text messages of 44 members of Congress from both parties and White House staff during its investigation.
Targeted lawmakers included Jordan and Grassley, in addition to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine; House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.; and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.
When Smith was asked by congressional investigators if he examined the contents of lawmakers’ text messages during his probe, he said, “no.” He told the House Judiciary Committee his team only sought telephone toll records.
But Smith’s attorneys charged that he was not being questioned about text messages during the portion of the deposition that Republicans are pointing to, so the criminal referral was made “because he did not proactively disclose information that was not responsive to a question asked.”
“During his testimony, Mr. Smith provided truthful, responsive answers and candidly discussed his work as Special Counsel. 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 wrote.
“The toll record subpoenas that were the focus of those questions did not call for the content of text messages. The questions and answers preceding and following these exchanges also make clear that the focus of the questions was on the toll records subpoenas. Notably, the referral letter does not contest the truthfulness of Mr. Smith’s answers.”
Smith’s attorneys also argued that his team was within its rights and did not violate lawmakers’ constitutional protections in the speech and debate clause, when obtaining text messages.
“That important constitutional provision, which Mr. Smith and his team took seriously and safeguarded, protects Members of Congress from having their legislative acts used against them. It does not prevent prosecutors from using or reviewing text messages between Members of Congress and members of the Executive Branch in an investigation and prosecution of an Executive Branch official, which is precisely what happened here,” the letter said.
“This review of text messages did not involve an intrusion by the Executive Branch into the legislative sphere because the text messages were voluntarily sent by members of the Legislative Branch to members of the Executive Branch.”
Trump has unleashed a litany of attacks against Smith ever since he began his probe, calling him a “Trump-hater” and a “thug” at times.
Trump’s allies have blasted the longtime prosecutor as a partisan actor who unfairly targeted the now-president.
“The Department can confirm receipt of the criminal referral from the House Judiciary Committee and will investigate all evidence of criminal conduct,” the DOJ told Fox News Digital Tuesday night regarding Jordan’s referral.
“No one is above the law, and that includes Jack Smith,” a spokesperson for the committee told Fox News Digital of the letter. “Statements he made before the committee are contradicted by the evidence and impeded the committee’s inquiry of the Biden-Harris Administration’s weaponized Justice Department.”
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