Jim Jordan requests a criminal investigation into former special counsel Jack Smith for allegedly making false statements during a congressional deposition.
Jim Jordan, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has requested that the Justice Department launch a criminal investigation into former special counsel Jack Smith. The referral stems from allegations that Smith made willfully false statements during a deposition last year regarding the scope of his investigations into President Trump. While Smith testified that his team only received "tolling records" for lawmakers' phones, new documents revealed that his team actually reviewed the specific contents of text messages between dozens of members of Congress and White House officials. Jordan argued that Smith failed to proactively disclose these messages, which were obtained from the National Archives. Smith’s attorneys defended his testimony as "unimpeachably truthful," noting that he was asked about tolling records rather than the specific National Archives subpoena. They characterized the referral as an attempt to weaponize the justice system against a nonpartisan public servant. Meanwhile, Democratic ranking member Jamie Raskin dismissed the referral as "baseless," arguing that Republicans never asked the specific questions that led to the accusation of a lie.