When House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan sent a letter to former special counsel Jack Smith in October, the Ohio Republican demanded the prosecutor appear before his panel. Smith responded rather quickly, telling Jordan that he’d love to answer the committee’s questions — but Smith wanted the hearing to be public so that everyone could see and hear his answers.
Jordan refused, preferring secrecy to sunlight.
The far-right representative soon after took the next logical step and subpoenaed the former special counsel. As The Associated Press reported, the closed-door inquiry is finally poised to get underway.
Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith is set for a closed-door interview with House Republicans on Wednesday after lawmakers rebuffed 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 inquiries of Trump during the Biden administration.
In case anyone needs a refresher, as 2025 got underway, the then-special counsel grudgingly stepped down after the 2024 election results derailed his criminal cases against Trump. As 2025 nears its end, however, the prosecutor remains a popular target for Republicans’ ire.
The president continues to peddle baseless attacks against the prosecutor; the administration continues to push out officials who worked with him; and assorted Republican voices continue to go after him with unhinged and easily discredited conspiracy theories.
On Capitol Hill, GOP lawmakers remain eager to treat Smith like a punching bag. Rep. Michael Rulli of Ohio recently accused the prosecutor of acts that he said bordered on “treason”; Sen. Marsha Blackburn referred Smith to the Justice Department for a misconduct investigation, based on misguided allegations the Tennessee Republican did not appear to understand; and several GOP members have even pushed for Smith’s disbarment.
The day before Smith’s appearance on Capitol Hill, House Speaker Mike Johnson joined the pile-on.
“If you’re going to restore the people’s faith in the justice system, you have to show them that there are serious consequences for people like Jack Smith, who abuses that system,” the Louisiana Republican told reporters.
The obvious problem with Johnson’s remark is that quite obviously it’s Trump, not Smith, who’s abusing the system and undermining public confidence. A related but no less important problem: To date, no Republican official has produced any evidence whatsoever of Smith having done anything wrong.
The House speaker simply asserted that the former special counsel abused the justice system, but the GOP leader bolstered the claim with literally nothing. As for developments in the House Judiciary Committee, Politico reported that Smith is in the unenviable position of having to navigate “Byzantine secrecy laws and rules that limit what he can disclose to lawmakers” while Republicans look for ways to “trip him up and incriminate him.” But while there are political risks, there are related opportunities. The same Politico report added that House Democrats are “eager for further details about the investigations Smith had to abandon after Trump won reelection in 2024.” Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said, “We want to hear exactly what he found, and what he did. He just needs to come and tell the truth.” Watch this space. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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