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Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith is scheduled to sit for a closed-door interview with House Republicans on Wednesday, after lawmakers declined his request to testify publicly about his investigations into President Donald Trump.
The private deposition is part of an ongoing inquiry by the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee into the Justice Department’s handling of criminal investigations involving Trump during the Biden administration. Smith was subpoenaed earlier this month to produce documents and provide testimony, the Washington Times reported.
His attorneys have said he will comply with the subpoena, despite having previously offered to appear before the committee in a public hearing more than a month ago, the report noted.
“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,” one of his lawyers, 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.”
Trump, when asked about the meeting, told reporters at the White House he’d rather Smith provide public testimony before Congress: “I’d rather see him testify publicly. There’s no way he can answer the questions.”
Smith is expected to address both of his investigations into Trump but will decline to answer questions involving grand jury materials, which are protected by law, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The person said Smith also plans to push back on what he views as Republican mischaracterizations of his work, including claims related to his team’s use of cellphone records belonging to certain GOP lawmakers.
Smith was appointed special counsel in 2022 to oversee Justice Department investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and his handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. His team ultimately brought charges in both cases, the Times noted.
Smith later dropped the prosecutions after Trump was elected to the White House again last year, citing longstanding Justice Department policy barring the indictment of a sitting president.
Republicans who control Congress have also sought interviews with individual members of Smith’s investigative team.
In recent weeks, lawmakers have focused on disclosures that Smith’s team reviewed phone records for certain Republican lawmakers as part of its investigation surrounding Jan. 6, 2021, when pro-Trump rioters breached the U.S. Capitol in an effort to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Prosecutors examined metadata from those records, including incoming and outgoing phone numbers and call durations, but not the contents of the calls, said the outlet.
In October, Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, joined by a coalition of Republican senators and one congressman, sent a formal letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi referring Smith to the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility and two state bar associations for investigation.
The letter accuses the former special counsel of serious professional misconduct that could warrant disbarment, The New York Post reported.
“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 read. “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 follows reports that Smith’s office spied on Republican members of Congress during that same period, using what’s known as a toll analysis — a process that allows investigators to obtain metadata such as call duration, recipient information, and location data from personal devices.
Lawmakers were not notified, nor did they consent to having their private communications accessed.
