Jordan's criminal referral vs. Jack Smith

In mid‑July 2026 Rep. Jim Jordan began publicly accusing former special counsel Jack Smith of illegally obtaining phone and text records of dozens of members of Congress, framing the alleged data grab as a constitutional breach tied to the GOP’s speaker‑selection fight. A week later, as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jordan filed a criminal referral with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, alleging Smith gave false testimony in a 2023 deposition about the request for lawmakers’ phone data. Smith’s attorneys dismissed the claim as baseless, and Democrats on the committee condemned the move as politically motivated.

On 23 July 2026 Jordan sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department accusing Smith of willfully providing false statements under oath regarding whether his team accessed the content of text messages from 44 members of Congress during a December 2025 deposition. Records released by Sen. Chuck Grassley showed Smith’s investigators reviewed those texts via the National Archives, contradicting Smith’s claim that only toll‑record data were sought. Smith denied wrongdoing; his lawyers argued the questions concerned call metadata, not message content. Democratic ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin called the referral “baseless” and likely to be “laughed out of court.”

The Justice Department confirmed receipt of the referral and said it would investigate the evidence. By 27 July, Jordan’s referral specifically cited a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001 for false statements in the December 2025 deposition. Smith’s counsel maintained the testimony was truthful, while former federal prosecutors noted that any criminal charges would have to be pursued before a Washington, D.C., grand jury, a venue historically resistant to politically driven prosecutions. President Donald Trump publicly called for Smith’s prosecution, but legal analysts highlighted jurisdictional and procedural hurdles that make such a move unlikely.