Jack Smith used taxpayer money to fund a four-year witch hunt against Donald Trump.
It turned into something bigger than anyone imagined.
Now Jim Jordan wants to make sure Smith faces accountability for his lawfare.
Jack Smith Lied to Congress About Reading 44 Lawmakers Texts
Jim Jordan sent a criminal referral to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche Wednesday demanding Smith be prosecuted for lying to Congress.
When House Judiciary investigators asked Jack Smith in December whether he had examined the contents of lawmakers' text messages, his answer was unambiguous.
"No, I don't recall that," Smith said under oath.
Asked again whether the records his team requested included the content of text messages, Smith said the same: "No."
He told Congress his team sought only telephone routing data – call numbers, timestamps, duration.
Chuck Grassley released the documents last week that proved otherwise.
Smith's Arctic Frost team accessed the private texts of 44 sitting and former members of Congress – not through direct subpoenas to lawmakers, but by obtaining White House phones from the National Archives and extracting the congressional messages contained within.
Grassley said Smith's investigators "apparently bypassed the Filter Team" – the DOJ's own internal safeguard designed to wall off privileged communications protected by the Constitution's Speech or Debate Clause.
A DOJ attorney in the Public Integrity Section had specifically warned Smith's team that accessing those messages risked violating that protection.
Smith's team went in anyway.
Jordan's letter to Blanche charged that Smith's answers "gave the impression that neither Mr. Smith nor his team had access to the content of members' privileged text messages."
"We now know this to be false."
The Arctic Frost Investigation Swept Up Pence Kash Patel and Ivanka Trump
Arctic Frost issued at least 197 grand jury subpoenas targeting records on approximately 430 Republican individuals and entities.
The congressional targets included Grassley and Jordan themselves, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, Sen. Susan Collins, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and Sen. Cory Booker.
Inside the Trump orbit, Smith's team swept up former Vice President Mike Pence, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Ivanka Trump.
These were the people with oversight authority over the very agencies Smith was using to conduct his investigation.
Grassley called it "worse than Watergate."
Sen. Ron Johnson, who co-released the Arctic Frost documents with Grassley, said: "No one should be shocked by Jack Smith's recklessness and blatant abuse of power, but they should be outraged."
Jordan's referral stated that Smith's conduct "can only be understood as an effort to thwart the Committee's inquiry by intentionally making false statements and representations before Congress."
The DOJ confirmed Wednesday it "will investigate all evidence of criminal conduct" in Jordan's referral.
Todd Blanche Already Said He Wants Jack Smith Prosecuted for Perjury
Smith built his prosecution of Trump on one principle: what a person chooses not to say is as incriminating as what he does.
Jordan applied that framework to Smith's December deposition.
Smith's lawyers are arguing their client did not lie – he just never volunteered that his team obtained congressional texts through the back door of a National Archives subpoena.
That is the argument Smith spent years telling judges to reject.
Smith's lawyers called the referral "meritless" and insisted their client provided "truthful, responsive answers."
Those are words Trump's legal team used too.
A congressional criminal referral carries no binding legal weight – the DOJ is not required to open an investigation or pursue charges.
But Todd Blanche is not Merrick Garland.
At his Senate confirmation hearing last week, Sen. Josh Hawley quoted Smith's sworn testimony back to Blanche and asked whether he had considered investigating Smith for perjury.
Blanche's answer: "We take testimony in front of this body very seriously. Yes."
Hawley asked whether he hoped to see Smith prosecuted.
"Yes, Senator," Blanche said.
Jordan just handed that man the referral.
Now Smith has to answer to Trump's Justice Department – run by Trump's former personal attorney – for reading 44 lawmakers' private texts after his own DOJ warned him not to.
Sources:
- Adam Pack and Elizabeth Elkind, "Jack Smith hit with criminal referral as GOP moves testimony fight toward prosecution," Fox News, July 22, 2026.
- Emily Kopp, "Unearthed records reveal scale of Jack Smith's Arctic Frost text message spying spree," Daily Caller, July 14, 2026.
- "Jack Smith's Arctic Frost team spied on lawmakers' texts without shielding privileged info," Washington Times, July 14, 2026.
- "Jim Jordan urges criminal charges against Jack Smith over alleged perjury," Washington Examiner, July 22, 2026.
- "Jack Smith probe swept texts of 44 Congress members, bypassing review," Fox News, July 14, 2026.