Jim Jordan calls on DOJ to prosecute Jack Smith’s former assistant prosecutor

First on Fox: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Wednesday called on the Justice Department to prosecute one of former special counsel Jack Smith’s top lawyers, accusing him of obstructing a congressional investigation.

Jordan said in the 19-page referral that Thomas Windom, a veteran federal prosecutor who was fired during the second Trump administration, refused to answer dozens of questions from committee staff after meeting with them twice behind closed doors this year.

Windom cited, among other reasons, his Fifth Amendment right and federal rules regarding grand jury secrecy, for refusing to answer questions. Jordan said he was not satisfied with those reasons and that at least one other prosecutor in a similar situation, JP Cooney, had been more forthright with his committee, signaling that Windom was withholding more than necessary.

“Windom’s inappropriate refusal to answer almost any questions during his deposition hindered the committee’s investigation,” Jordan wrote. “As a senior aide to Special Counsel Jack Smith, Windom has unique, first-hand information about the work of this office. Yet, despite express permission from the DOJ on two occasions, Windom refused to answer questions during his deposition on matters necessary and relevant to the committee’s investigation.”

Representative Jim Jordan attends a hearing with the House Judiciary Committee September 3, 2025 in Washington, DC (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The GOP-led committee inquired about a range of topics related to Windom’s work investigating Trump’s alleged efforts to illegally overturn the 2020 election and supporting Smith as a former senior deputy special counsel.

Congress has long referred targets of its investigations to the DOJ for criminal prosecution, but the department has no obligation to act accordingly.

This referral is the second from the Jordanian committee in as many months. In October, the president asked the DOJ to prosecute former CIA Director John Brennan, alleging he made false statements to Congress.

Fox News Digital has reached out to a representative for Windom for comment.

Then-Special Counsel Jack Smith delivers remarks on an unsealed four-count indictment against former President Donald Trump, August 1, 2023, in Washington. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Former CIA Director John Brennan appears on “Meet the Press” in Washington, DC, Sunday, April 15, 2018. (William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC Newswire/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

Windom’s attorney told the committee in a September deposition that his client had cooperated with the committee “in good faith” and that committee Republicans and the Justice Department had not reciprocated.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The DOJ, the lawyer said, has abandoned its usual practice of preventing lawyers like Windom from testifying to Congress, especially without a lawyer. The committee, meanwhile, showed no “respect or understanding” of federal obligations to keep grand jury materials secret, the lawyer said.

“The majority of the staff, operating without meaningful oversight or control, engaged in a performative and unserious exercise, summoned for political theater,” Windom’s lawyer said, adding that “they intentionally placed him in an impossible dilemma, forcing him to choose between risking criminal prosecution for violating grand jury secrecy rules or, alternatively, risking criminal prosecution for contempt of Congress.”