Former special counsel Jack Smith has rejected as “meritless” a criminal referral from House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan, who alleges that Smith lied under oath about his investigation’s access to congressional text messages. The dispute matters because it could prompt a Justice Department inquiry into Smith’s conduct and intensifies Republican criticism of his former investigations into Donald Trump.

Jordan says Smith falsely indicated that neither he nor his team had accessed the content of lawmakers’ messages, after documents released by Senator Chuck Grassley showed investigators reviewed texts from 44 members of Congress and White House staff. Smith’s lawyers argue his answers concerned telephone toll records, not message content, and say the referral does not challenge the literal truth of his testimony; they also contend the review did not breach constitutional protections. The Justice Department confirmed it had received the referral and would examine evidence of criminal conduct.