Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith is set for a closed-door interview with House Republicans Wednesday after lawmakers rejected his offer to testify publicly about his investigations into President Donald Trump.
The private deposition is part of an ongoing investigation by the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee into the Justice Department’s criminal investigations into Trump during the Biden administration.
Smith was subpoenaed earlier this month to provide both testimony and documents, and his lawyers indicated he would cooperate with Congress’ request despite volunteering more than a month earlier to answer questions publicly before the committee.
“We are disappointed that the 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 clear up the various misconceptions about his investigation.”
Trump told reporters he supports the idea of an open hearing, saying: “I’d like to see him testify publicly. There’s no way he can answer the questions’ (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Trump told reporters at the White House that he supports the idea of an open hearing, saying: “I would like to see him testify publicly. There is no way he can answer the questions.”
Smith is expected to discuss his two investigations into Trump but will not answer questions requesting grand jury materials, which are restricted by law, according to a person familiar with the investigation who insisted on anonymity to discuss the interview.
He is also expected to correct what he sees as mischaracterizations by Republicans about his work, including about his team’s use of cellphone records belonging to certain GOP lawmakers, the person said.
Smith was appointed in 2022 to oversee the Justice Department’s investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election and his collection of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Smith’s team filed charges in both investigations.
Smith dropped the cases after Trump was re-elected to the White House last year, citing Justice Department legal opinions that say a sitting president cannot be impeached.
Republicans who control Congress have sought interviews with at least some individual members of Smith’s team.
In recent weeks they seized on revelations that the team, as part of its investigation, had analyzed the telephone records of selected GOP legislators from and around January 6, 2021, when pro-Trump rioters entered the United States Capitol to try to stop the certification of Trump’s election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. The phone records reviewed by prosecutors included details only about incoming and outgoing phone numbers and the length of the call but not the content of the conversation.