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Former special counsel Jack Smith will testify publicly before the House Judiciary Committee next week, Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, announced Monday night, setting up a high-profile confrontation over Smith’s investigations into President Donald Trump.
The Jan. 22 hearing comes weeks after Smith sat for more than eight hours of closed-door testimony with the Republican-led panel in December. Smith had requested a public hearing before that deposition, but Republicans initially refused.
Smith’s attorney, Lanny Breuer, said Monday night that Smith welcomes the opportunity to defend his work publicly.
“Jack has been clear for months he is ready and willing to answer questions in a public hearing about his investigations into President Trump’s alleged unlawful efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his mishandling of classified documents,” Breuer said in a statement.
NBC News reported last week that Jordan planned to bring Smith back for a public appearance after the committee released transcripts and video from the private deposition.
The Judiciary Committee on Dec. 31 released a 255-page transcript and more than eight hours of video from Smith’s closed-door testimony. In that session, Smith told lawmakers he could prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump engaged in a “criminal scheme” to overturn the 2020 election results.
Smith said Trump was “the most culpable” figure in the election interference case and had “repeatedly tried to obstruct justice” in the classified documents investigation.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the committee’s top Democrat, sharply criticized Republicans for initially forcing Smith to testify behind closed doors.
“Even with many hours of private testimony, Republicans could not lay a glove on Jack Smith, his evidence, or his case,” Raskin said in a statement Friday. “That will not change now that they have finally heeded our call to have him come testify publicly.”
Raskin called the upcoming hearing “a win for truth-seeking Americans” and said it would expose what he described as Republicans’ efforts to undermine the investigations into Trump.
Trump has repeatedly called for Smith to be prosecuted since returning to office last year.
Smith oversaw two federal prosecutions of Trump — one involving the mishandling of classified documents and another tied to efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump has denied wrongdoing and labeled both cases politically motivated “witch hunts.”
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed the classified documents case, ruling that Smith’s appointment was unlawful. Smith dropped the election interference case after Trump was elected in 2024, citing longstanding Justice Department policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president.
