Jack Smith To For Private Interview With Lawmakers Over Trump Probes
Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith is set to appear for a closed-door interview with House Republicans on Wednesday, after lawmakers rejected his request to testify publicly about his investigations targeting President Donald J. Trump.
The private deposition is part of a broader oversight probe by the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee into what lawmakers describe as the Biden-era Justice Department’s politicized handling of criminal investigations involving Trump. Smith was subpoenaed earlier this month to turn over documents and provide testimony, according to the Washington Times.
Smith’s attorneys have confirmed he will comply with the subpoena, despite previously offering to testify in an open hearing more than a month ago—an offer Republicans declined.
“We are disappointed that offer was rejected, and that the American people will be denied the opportunity to hear directly from Jack on these topics,” Smith attorney Peter Koski said in a statement this month. “Jack looks forward to meeting with the committee later this month to discuss his work and clarify the various misconceptions about his investigation.”
President Trump, now serving his second term in the White House, said he would prefer Smith answer questions publicly before Congress.
“I’d rather see him testify publicly. There’s no way he can answer the questions,” Trump told reporters.
According to a source familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity, Smith is expected to discuss both of his Trump-related investigations but will refuse to answer questions involving grand jury material, which is protected under federal law. The source said Smith also intends to dispute what he views as Republican mischaracterizations of his work, including allegations concerning his team’s collection of cellphone records belonging to Republican lawmakers.
Smith was appointed special counsel in 2022 under the Biden administration to oversee investigations into Trump’s actions following the 2020 presidential election and his handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. His office ultimately brought charges in both cases, the Times reported.
Those prosecutions were later abandoned after Trump won the presidency again last year, with Smith citing long-standing Justice Department policy prohibiting the indictment of a sitting president.
Republicans who now control Congress have since expanded their inquiry, seeking testimony not only from Smith but from individual members of his investigative team.
In recent weeks, lawmakers have zeroed in on revelations that Smith’s office obtained phone records for certain Republican members of Congress as part of its Jan. 6-related investigation. That inquiry stemmed from the events of January 6, 2021, when pro-Trump demonstrators entered the U.S. Capitol during the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
Prosecutors reviewed metadata from those phone records—such as incoming and outgoing numbers, call durations, and location data—but did not access call content, according to reporting cited by the outlet.
The controversy escalated further in October, when Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, joined by multiple Republican senators and one House member, sent a formal letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi referring Smith to the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility and to two state bar associations for investigation, according to the New York Post.
The lawmakers accused Smith of serious professional misconduct that could warrant disbarment.
“As part of Jack Smith’s weaponized witch hunt, the Biden DOJ issued subpoenas to several telecommunications companies in 2023 regarding our cell phone records, gaining access to the time, recipient, duration, and location of calls placed on our devices from January 4, 2021, to January 7, 2021,” the letter stated. “We have yet to learn of any legal predicate for the Biden Department of Justice issuing subpoenas to obtain these cell phone records.”
The referral followed reports that Smith’s office conducted what is known as a toll analysis—allowing investigators to collect call metadata—on Republican lawmakers during that period.
According to lawmakers, they were neither notified nor gave consent for their personal communications data to be accessed, raising serious constitutional and separation-of-powers concerns that Republicans say demand full accountability.