2:19Special prosecutor Jack Smith addresses members of the press at the US Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C., Aug. 1, 2023. Donald Trump was formally accused on August 1, 2023, for his endeavors to nullify the 2020 election outcome — the most significant juridical challenge to date for the former president as he campaigns to re-enter the Oval Office.Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
The House Judiciary Committee is seeking testimony from ex-special counsel Jack Smith before the committee in a private session pertaining to his probes into President Donald Trump.
Committee Head Jim Jordan on Tuesday called for an interview by Oct. 28 and is also requesting documents and correspondence.
“As the Committee proceeds with its oversight duties, your deposition is crucial to grasp the complete scope of how the Biden-Harris Justice Department exploited federal law enforcement,” Jordan stated in the correspondence to Smith.
Jordan asserted that Smith was engaged in “politically biased investigations,” referencing the FBI's disclosure of a memo revealing that Smith acquired phone logs of several GOP lawmakers.
At the beginning of this month, the FBI revealed data indicating that Smith's investigators at one point pursued restricted phone toll records of various Republican senators around the period of the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
During his investigation, Smith thoroughly examined Trump and his associates' lobbying efforts on legislators to obstruct the validation of former President Joe Biden's electoral triumph — including calls that were placed to senators after the Capitol was infiltrated by the pro-Trump assembly.
There is no evidence to suggest that Republican senators were an objective of Smith's investigation, and the toll records obtained by investigators would not encompass any details regarding the substance of conversations they might have had.
Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to members of the media at the US Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C., Aug. 1, 2023. Donald Trump was indicted on August 1, 2023 over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election — the most serious legal threat yet to the former president as he campaigns to return to the White House.Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Smith, along with former Attorney General Merrick Garland, consistently asserted before leaving their positions that none of the actions undertaken in either the classified documents investigation or the inquiry into Trump's attempts to undermine his 2020 election defeat were fueled by partisan politics.
Both legal actions were abandoned following Trump's reelection in November due to a long-standing Justice Department regulation that prohibits the legal action against a sitting head of state.
Smith recently championed his performance as special counsel and affirmed that the attorneys he collaborated with possess the highest standards of integrity.
“Those I brought on board were all former longtime federal prosecutors who had served in both Republican and Democratic governments time and time again,” Smith mentioned last Wednesday during an address at University College London. “These are team players who aspire to contribute to the greater good. They have no interest in partisan politics.”
Trump entered a plea of not guilty in 2023 to 40 criminal charges pertaining to his handling of classified materials after his departure from the White House, and subsequently, in that same year, pleaded not guilty to distinct allegations of allegedly undertaking a “criminal plot” to subvert the outcome of the 2020 election.
Trump refuted all misconduct in both instances.
Rep. Jim Jordan looks on during a hearing with the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building, Sept. 3, 2025.Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Last week, Smith pointed out that, unlike the classified documents case against then-President Joe Biden, Trump demonstrated the “deliberateness” to retain classified documents.
“We possessed significant evidence of deliberateness. We also had obstructive evidence, including public statements like 'These are my documents' or similar remarks, and 'I am entitled to keep them' — the evidence of refusing to return the documents even when the government attempted to recover them prior to a formal criminal investigation.”
The former special prosecutor, in his most extensive on-camera comments since his resignation following Trump's reelection, criticized the notion that political considerations could have played a role in his investigations.
“The thought that partisan politics would influence high-profile cases of this nature is completely preposterous and utterly inconsistent with my experiences as a prosecutor,” he declared.
He conveyed a bleak assessment regarding the current condition of the Justice Department, which recently indicted former FBI Director James Comey mere days after Trump issued a public plea for his DOJ to take action “now” to initiate prosecutions against Comey and other political adversaries.
“The events unfolding now are unprecedented,” Smith noted. “Process should not be a political matter, correct? If there are guidelines within the department regarding how to pursue a case, those rules should be followed. It's unacceptable to declare, 'I desire this result, therefore, I will disregard the rules.'”
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, who is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, jokingly commended Jordan for requesting all documentation associated with Smith's investigations, which Raskin pointed out would necessarily involve Smith's final report on his classified documents investigation, a report that Trump's Justice Department has prevented from being released to the public.
“In an entirely unforeseen and welcomed twist, Chairman Jordan's letter to Jack Smith today explicitly calls for the release of Smith's complete report, in addition to all supporting records, originating from his inquiry into Donald Trump's accumulation of classified documents and obstruction of justice at Mar-a-Lago,” Raskin articulated in a statement. “An unparalleled multi-year MAGA cover-up has denied the American populace the chance to review this special counsel report funded by taxpayer dollars. However, Chairman Jordan, by insisting on 'all documents transmitted…during your tenure as Special Counsel pertaining to your work, your investigation, your charging decisions…' has finally embraced a sweeping commitment to absolute transparency and accountability. Congratulations.”
“Of course, it is clear to all the irony in Judiciary Republicans demanding that Jack Smith appear to testify regarding alleged 'politically motivated prosecutions' only days after Trump's personally chosen Acting U.S. Attorney brought charges against yet another of the President's widely publicized political targets,” Raskin expressed in reference to the indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James last week.
Alexander Mallin, Luke Barr and Katherine Faulders were contributors to this report.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
