Jim Jordan, the Republican Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, stated he has issued a subpoena to former Special Counsel Jack Smith to privately testify before the committee in mid-December.
The subpoena follows Smith’s continued calls to permit him to testify publicly about his investigations and circumstances in opposition to President Donald Trump.
In the letter to Smith, which Jordan shared on X on Wednesday, the congressman asks for Smith’s testimony and associated paperwork. Jordan wrote that the committee was nonetheless investigating the previous particular counsel, “specifically, your team’s prosecution of President Donald J. Trump and his co-defendants.”
Peter Koski, an lawyer for Jack Smith, stated in an announcement to NCS that Smith “looks forward to meeting with the committee later this month to discuss his work and clarify the various misconceptions about his investigation.”
The letter requests a deposition as a substitute of public testimony as Smith has beforehand volunteered.
“Nearly six weeks ago Jack offered to voluntarily appear before the House Judiciary committee in an open hearing,” the lawyer’s assertion stated. “We are disappointed that offer was rejected, and that the American people will be denied the opportunity to hear directly from Jack on these topics.”
Republican lawmakers, together with in the Senate, have ramped up their criticism of Smith in latest months, highlighting lawful subpoenas of sure lawmakers’ cellphone information across the January 6, 2021, Capitol assault.
Smith has continued to say he would publicly testify over his investigations into and circumstances in opposition to Trump.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the rating democratic member on the committee, lamented in a public assertion that Jordan had “denied” Smith’s “offer to speak publicly” on the Trump investigations.
“Instead,” Raskin wrote, Jordan was now demanding Smith “comply with a subpoena for a closed-door, private session simply so Republicans can spin, distort, and cherry-pick his remarks through press leaks.”
“What are our colleagues so afraid of, that they won’t let the American people hear directly from the Special Counsel?” Raskin requested.