House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) sent a letter to the Justice Department on July 23, 2026, asking prosecutors to open a criminal investigation into former special counsel Jack Smith. Jordan says Smith lied under oath when he testified to Congress about his investigations of President Donald Trump. The Associated Press first reported the story, and NPR confirmed it. (AP; NPR)

The letter is called a criminal referral. It is a formal request from a member of Congress asking the Justice Department to look into whether someone broke the law. It does not start a case on its own. The DOJ decides whether to take action.

Smith testified privately before the House Judiciary Committee on Jan. 22, 2026, about his two now-closed criminal investigations of Trump. Jordan says Smith "seemingly made willfully and intentionally false statements" during that testimony. The disagreement is about subpoenas — legal orders to hand over records — that Smith's team used to get the phone records of lawmakers who had been in touch with White House officials and allies about six years ago. It also involves text messages Smith obtained from the National Archives from White House phones, which included exchanges between White House aides and members of Congress. NPR

Smith's team secretly collected text messages from 44 members of Congress as part of the Trump investigation, according to a July 14, 2026 release from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Grassley's own messages were among those collected. Sen. Ron Johnson's (R-Wis.) text messages were also obtained. Grassley's disclosure came more than six months after Smith gave private testimony to the Republican-controlled committee on Dec. 17, 2025, following months of disclosures from Trump appointees, as Reuters reported. Smith's full deposition was later publicly released, detailing Trump's alleged criminal wrongdoing. (Grassley; Reuters; House Judiciary Democrats)

Smith's lawyers disagreed with Jordan. Lawyers Lanny Breuer and Peter Koski, representing Smith, released a letter to Jordan and the DOJ saying Smith provided "truthful, responsive answers" to Congress. They said Republican members never asked Smith directly about the National Archives text messages and now want to punish him for not bringing them up on his own. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said the referral would be "laughed out of court" if it reaches a federal judge. Raskin said Smith could not have lied because Republican members never asked the question their theory is based on. NPR

Trump posted "Justice at last???" on Truth Social early Thursday morning amid news of the criminal referral. NPR

Smith oversaw two criminal investigations of Trump. One focused on alleged interference in the 2020 election. The other focused on Trump allegedly refusing to turn over classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Both ended before trial, partly because Trump won the 2024 election. The Justice Department has already attempted to start criminal cases against former FBI Director Jim Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. NPR

The Washington Post ran the AP wire story by Eric Tucker on the referral on July 23, 2026. Washington Post

The broader context here is a Justice Department under Trump's second administration that has already moved against former officials who clashed with the president politically. The Comey and James cases show that the department is willing to act on referrals targeting people involved in earlier investigations of Trump or his allies. Whether the Smith referral clears the bar for a formal investigation is now before DOJ leadership, and the dispute over what questions were and were not asked during Smith's Jan. 22 testimony will likely shape that decision.

The core legal question is narrow: whether Smith's answers to the committee on Jan. 22 were false given what he was actually asked. Smith's lawyers and Rep. Raskin say the answer comes down to the record — if no one asked the question, Smith could not have lied. Jordan's referral says the opposite. The DOJ will have to compare the transcript of Smith's testimony against Jordan's allegations to decide whether to open a case.