Jack Smith asks Congress and the Justice Department to allow him to testify publicly

By Katelyn Polantz, Devan Cole, CNN

(CNN) — Former special counsel Jack Smith is requesting that Congress and the Justice Department allow him to testify publicly, according to a new letter he sent Thursday to the leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary committees.

Smith says he wants to testify “in open hearings” because of “the many mischaracterizations” around his investigations that led to criminal charges against Donald Trump in 2023 for alleged mishandling classified records and actions related to the 2020 election results.

The letter, obtained by CNN, reflects a bubbling inquiry from Republicans in Congress who have accused Smith of wrongdoing in overseeing the prosecutors’ office. Smith has maintained he followed all court and Justice Department protocols.

Smith’s lawyers on Thursday told the Republican committee leaders, however, that he would need reassurance from the Justice Department that “he will not be punished” for testimony, since some of the facts of his special office investigations are still under seal in court or protected by grand jury secrecy rules.

Jack Smith’s lawyers are expected to formally seek guidance from the Justice Department regarding possible congressional testimony, but have not done so yet, a source familiar to the plans told CNN.

The letter sent Thursday by Smith’s attorneys to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan and Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley also said their client needed “access” to the files created during his time as special counsel “to provide full and accurate answers” to their questions.

“Jack Smith certainly has a lot of answering to do, but first, Congress needs to have all the facts at its disposal,” Grassley told CNN in a statement. “Hearings should follow once the investigative foundation has been firmly set, which is why I’m actively working with the DOJ and FBI to collect all relevant records that Mr. Smith had years to become familiar with.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin, top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, urged his committee leaders to accept Smith’s offer.

“I can think of no reason to deny the American people the opportunity to hear his testimony, under oath and with questioning from Members of both parties, and to let all Americans judge for themselves the integrity of Mr. Smith’s investigations. There is no reason his appearance should be in the shadows of a backroom and subject to the usual tiresome partisan tactics of leak-and-distort,” Raskin said in his own letter Thursday.

Potential public hearings would give Smith his biggest opportunity yet to defend the integrity of the two criminal cases he brought against Trump.

After Trump’s reelection last year brought a swift end to Smith’s prosecutions, the former special counsel has made few public comments about the matter, though he’s been steadfast in his defense of how the historic criminal cases were handled.

During a recent talk in London, he said the cases were untainted by politics and called claims that they were politically motivated “absolutely ludicrous.”

“The idea that politics would play a role in big cases like this, it’s absolutely ludicrous and it’s totally contrary to my experience as a prosecutor,” Smith said.

The letter from Smith follows House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan’s October 14 demand for his testimony.

This story was updated to include additional reporting. CNN’s Morgan Rimmer contributed to this report.

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