Jack Smith Tells Congress He Wants to Testify in Open Hearings

Smith has said that claims he acted in a biased manner against Trump are incorrect.

Former special counsel Jack Smith at the Justice Department in Washington on June 9, 2023. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Former special counsel Jack Smith’s lawyers have asked that he be allowed to make a public appearance after House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) demanded he testify before Congress.

Smith’s attorneys argued in a letter that there were “many mischaracterizations” made about Smith’s two cases against President Donald Trump, one of which accused Trump of attempting to illegally overturn the 2020 election results and the other accusing him of mishandling classified materials.

They said that Smith wants to speak “in open hearings” before both the Senate and House committees.

That request was made on Oct. 23 in a letter to Jordan and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chair of the Senate Judiciary panel.

A letter from Jordan to Smith and his attorneys earlier in October had requested a closed-door, transcribed interview with Smith.

“He is prepared to answer questions about the Special Counsel’s investigation and prosecution, but requires assurance from the Department of Justice [DOJ] that he will not be punished for doing so,” Smith’s lawyers stated.

In his letter, Jordan accused the former special counsel of acting in a politically biased manner against Trump.

Smith’s attorneys, Lanny Brewer and Peter Koski, characterized Smith as a “dedicated public servant” who had “steadfastly adhered to established legal standards and Department of Justice guidelines” during the two cases against Trump, who at the time was the leading GOP presidential candidate.

In 2023, Smith and the special counsel’s team appointed by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland brought charges against Trump, accusing him of illegally retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after he vacated the White House in 2021.

The second case accused him of attempting to illegally retain power after the 2020 elections.

Trump has categorically denied the claims, saying Smith was attempting to undermine his 2024 election bid with the charges against him, which Smith has denied.

Smith left the DOJ in early 2025, before Trump took office for his second term, and released a final report stating that he ultimately dropped the charges against Trump due to longstanding DOJ rules prohibiting the prosecution of sitting presidents.

Jordan’s letter said that Smith needs to testify because Republicans want to “understand the full extent to which the Biden-Harris Justice Department weaponized federal law enforcement.”

Multiple members of Smith’s former special counsel team were called to testify before a Judiciary panel, Jordan said in his letter.

But those former officials, he said, did not “fully cooperate” and instead invoked the Fifth Amendment—which provides that individuals cannot be compelled to make self-incriminating statements—or declined to answer questions about the investigation.

Jordan also said that Smith “failed to respond” to previous letters issued to his legal team, warranting the request to testify.

Earlier this month, Smith spoke at an event hosted by the University College London Faculty of Laws, where he said that claims that he acted in a biased manner against Trump are incorrect.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and other Republican lawmakers accused Smith earlier this month of obtaining phone records of Republican members of Congress following an FBI operation dubbed “Arctic Frost.” She referred Smith to the DOJ for potential prosecution and disbarment for those alleged attempts

Smith’s legal team did not respond to a previous Epoch Times request for comment regarding the Blackburn letter.