House Republicans summon Jack Smith for a closed-door interview about Trump’s prosecutions

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith for a closed-door interview later this month even though he had earlier volunteered to appear at an open hearing on his prosecutions of President Donald Trump.

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the committee’s Republican chairman, directed Smith in a letter dated Wednesday to attend a private briefing on Dec. 17 as part of the committee’s investigation into the attorney general’s work.

“Because of your service as special counsel, the committee believes you possess information vital to its oversight of this matter,” Jordan wrote. He also asked Smith to provide records to the committee in addition to his testimony.

Smith’s attorney, Peter Koski, said in a statement that Smith had offered nearly six weeks ago to appear before the committee in an open hearing but would nonetheless appear as required to testify.

“We are disappointed that the offer was declined, and that the American people were denied the opportunity to hear directly from Jack on these topics,” Koski said. “Jack looks forward to meeting with the committee later this month to discuss his work and clear up various misconceptions about his investigation.”

Read more: Special Counsel Jack Smith resigns from the Justice Department after submitting Trump’s report

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 hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida. Smith’s team brought charges in both investigations.

Smith abandoned those cases after Trump was elected to the White House again last year, citing Justice Department legal opinions that prohibit indicting a sitting president.

Republicans who control Congress have sought interviews with members of Smith’s team, and in recent weeks have seized on revelations that the team, as part of its investigation, analyzed the phone records of select GOP lawmakers from and around Jan. 6, 2021, when pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to stop the certification of the Republican president’s election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Smith’s legal team noted that the records obtained by investigators did not include the contents of the conversations, but only recorded the numbers of incoming and outgoing calls, the times the calls were made and how long they lasted.

“Mr. Smith’s actions as special counsel were consistent with the decisions of a prosecutor who has dedicated his career to pursuing the facts and the law, without fear or favor and without regard for political consequences,” Smith’s lawyers wrote to lawmakers in October.

They added: “His investigative decisions were similarly motivated, and the subpoena for charging records was entirely proper, lawful, and consistent with established Department of Justice policy. While Mr. Smith’s prosecutions of President Trump may have been politicized as expected by others, policy never influenced his decision-making.”