Three House Republican lawmakers on Friday asked Special Counsel Jack Smith to turn over documents related to his criminal indictments of former President Donald Trump, alleging that Mr. Smith has a political motivation in pursuing these indictments.
The Republican lawmakers demanded that the special prosecutor hand over documents related to Mr. Smith’s authority to offer immunity to witnesses and impanel a grand jury, as well as any communications that could speak to any oversight from the Department of Justice concerning Mr. Smith’s decision to indict President Trump.
Mr. Smith is heading two federal criminal indictments targeting President Trump; one related to the former president’s handling of classified documents and alleged obstruction of justice, and another related to the former president’s alleged attempt at overturning the 2020 election. President Trump has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
In their letter asking for these documents, the lawmakers questioned Mr. Smith’s prosecutorial discretion in bringing general conspiracy charges against President Trump, suggesting that Mr. Smith has adopted an overly liberal interpretation of the law; they reasoned that the U.S Supreme Court “has consistently overturned criminal convictions against public officials and private parties based on broad theories of prosecution brought under general criminal statutes.”
Earlier this year, House Republican lawmakers have on at least two separate occasions—once in June and again in September—requested information related to Mr. Smith’s cases against President Trump. Mr. Smith’s office has not responded publicly to the Republican lawmakers’ inquiries to date.
Should Mr. Smith fail to give “any meaningful response” to the inquiries, the lawmakers wrote in their Friday letter, they “will consider the use of compulsory process,” apparently referring to the Committee’s House subpoena power.
That bill, titled “Yanking Outlays for an Unethical, Ruthless Enterprise that Fraudulently Impedes Robust Electoral Debate”—short for the “YOU’RE FIRED” Act—is pending before the House Judiciary Committee.
The Department of Justice and the House Oversight Committee did not return a request for comment by press time.