House committee urges DOJ to charge former Trump prosecutor Jack Smith

Key Points:

• Rep. Jim Jordan, Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee, referred former special counsel Jack Smith to the Justice Department for criminal investigation, alleging Smith lied to Congress about obtaining phone records during the Trump probe; Smith's lawyers called the allegations "spurious" and defended his testimony as truthful.
• The referral stems from revelations that Smith's team obtained text messages between Trump-era White House staffers and dozens of members of Congress via a National Archives subpoena, contradicting Smith's earlier statement that only "tolling records" without content were obtained.
• The Justice Department confirmed receipt of the referral and stated it will investigate all evidence of criminal conduct, while Democrats, including Rep. Jamie Raskin, dismissed the referral as baseless and politically motivated.
• Jack Smith was appointed special counsel in 2022 to investigate Trump's post-2020 election actions and handling of classified documents; both cases ended without charges due to legal rulings, though Smith maintained Trump would have been convicted otherwise.
• GOP lawmakers, including Sen. Chuck Grassley, criticized the investigation as a constitutional overreach, alleging improper handling of lawmakers' communications, but Smith's attorneys argued that the use of such records was lawful and consistent with DOJ protocols.