House Republicans seek testimony from ex-Trump prosecutor Jack Smith

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press WASHINGTON AP Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee requested Tuesday that Jack Smith the former Justice Department special counsel appear for an interview part of an escalating effort among the GOP to pursue the perceived enemies of President Donald Trump Rep Jim Jordan the committee chair charged in a letter to Smith that his prosecutions of Trump were partisan and politically motivated Smith has come under particular scrutiny on Capitol Hill especially after the Senate Judiciary Committee commented last week that his assessment had included an FBI analysis of phone records for more than half a dozen Republican lawmakers from the week of Jan Related Articles Trump honoring Charlie Kirk with Presidential Medal of Freedom on what would be his nd birthday Trump and budget chief Vought are making this a administration shutdown unlike any other Various airports refuse to play Noem video on shutdown impact saying it s political Judge accuses Homeland Safeguard of bullying states into accepting conditions to get FEMA money Trump welcomes Argentina s Javier Milei as US extends billion lifeline Smith brought two cases against Trump one accusing him of conspiring to overturn the results of the presidential voting and the other of hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida Both were brought in well over a year before the presidential vote and indictments in the two cases cited what Smith and his band described as clear violations of well-established federal law Former Attorney General Merrick Garland who named Smith as special counsel in November has repeatedly reported politics played no part in the handling of the cases Smith abandoned the criminal cases against Trump after he won the presidential referendum last year Trump s return to the White House precluded the federal prosecutions as well as paved the way for Republicans to go after Trump s political and legal opponents Jordan wrote to Smith Your testimony is necessary to understand the full extent to which the Biden-Harris Justice Department weaponized federal law enforcement In just the last weeks the Trump administration has pursued criminal charges against both James Comey the former FBI director and New York Attorney General Letitia James who for years investigated and sued Trump The House Judiciary Committee has been looking into Smith s actions as special counsel since the start of the year Jordan noted that it had interviewed two other members of Smith s prosecutorial club but they had declined to answer a large number of questions citing the Fifth Amendment An attorney for Smith did not instantly respond to a request for comment on the House Judiciary Committee s interview request