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Former special counsel Jack Smith is set to appear Wednesday on Capitol Hill, where House lawmakers plan to question Smith directly for the first time about his investigations and prosecutions of President Donald Trump.
Smith will meet with House Judiciary Committee members behind closed doors for a deposition, during which both parties will interview him in one-hour increments.
His appearance comes amid the committee’s ongoing probe into his special counsel work and as Republicans have broadly accused Smith of overzealously pursuing Trump over the former president’s efforts to challenge the 2020 election results and his alleged retention of classified documents.
Republicans have specifically criticized Smith for seeking gag orders against Trump during his presidential campaign, attempting to fast-track court proceedings and subpoenaing phone data of hundreds of Trump-aligned people and entities, including members of Congress.
JACK SMITH SUBPOENAED FOR DEPOSITION WITH HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to members of the media at the Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 1, 2023. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
Smith, for his part, plans to address what he views as mischaracterizations about his work, including the subpoenas, sources familiar with the matter told Digital. Smith will decline to answer questions he believes are covered by grand jury secrecy rules or Judge Aileen Cannon’s seal on certain material related to the classified documents case, the sources said.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is aiming to eventually release a full transcript of the deposition, another source familiar told Digital, but that could take time because rules surrounding depositions require Republicans and Democrats to agree to release it or the committee to vote on the release. Smith’s team must also have a chance to review it.
Smith previously told Congress he was willing to appear for a public hearing; however, Jordan subpoenaed him for the private testimony anyway. The chairman told ‘ Maria Bartiromo he preferred that format because lawmakers and House lawyers would have more time to question Smith.
DEMOCRATS RAMP UP CALLS TO RELEASE JACK SMITH’S SPECIAL COUNSEL REPORT ON TRUMP CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CASE
Rep. Jim Jordan looks on during a hearing with the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Sept. 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Trump has echoed Smith’s preference for a public hearing, telling reporters the former special counsel is a “sick man” and that he would “rather see him testify publicly because there’s no way he can answer the questions.” Jordan said he was open to Smith testifying publicly at a later date.
For several years, Jordan has criticized Smith’s work as a “weaponization” of prosecutorial authority. When he meets with Smith Tuesday, among the topics Jordan plans to raise are Smith’s subpoenas of the Republican senators and House members who were in contact with Trump around the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Those subpoenas were issued as part of Arctic Frost, the FBI probe that led Smith to charge Trump over the 2020 election.
“We want to bring in Jack Smith, ask him all kinds of questions, not the least of which is this whole idea that he was going after what appears to be almost half the stinkin’ Republicans in Congress, getting their phone logs, and a bunch of other Americans,” Jordan said.
President Donald Trump at the White House before boarding Marine One in Washington, D.C., Feb. 28, 2025. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The targeted lawmakers have blasted the subpoenas as scandalous and a breach of the Constitution’s separation of powers, while Smith has defended them as narrowly tailored and “entirely proper.”
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Smith faced significant obstacles while pursuing the two cases against Trump and ultimately dismissed the charges after Trump won the 2024 election, citing a DOJ policy that discourages prosecuting sitting presidents. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has repeatedly labeled Smith “deranged” and a “thug” and called for his imprisonment.
The deposition is set to begin at 10 a.m.
