The U.S. Department of Justice may review the December 2025 closed-door deposition of former Special Counsel Jack Smith to explore whether Smith lied to Congress when he testified about his now-dismissed federal criminal cases against President Donald Trump, according to legal observers. Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahami, president of the Los Angeles-based West Coast Trial Lawyers, said the Justice Department cannot prosecute Smith unless it has a “backdoor” theory unrelated to the U.S. Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021. Tuesday is the five-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection, an incident where hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the halls of Congress seeking to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election. Trump’s alleged role in the Jan. 6 violence prompted Smith to pursue a criminal case charging Trump with attempting to overturn the 2020 election. “There is no basis to charge [Smith] criminally, so they would have to somehow get there another way,” Rahami said Monday in an interview. “There may be some civil remedies, but as far as criminal prosecution of a prosecutor, there is no basis to do so.” Rahami, a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California and former counsel at O’Melveny & Myers, said the Trump administration could investigate whether Smith said anything untruthful to Congress to potentially bring a perjury case against Smith. Smith appeared before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Dec. 17, 2025, and defended his decisions to prosecute Trump for alleged election interference in Washington, D.C., and alleged mishandling of classified records in Florida. “I believe we had proof beyond a reasonable doubt in both cases,” Smith said in his deposition, according to a slightly redacted transcript and hours-long video of his sworn testimony released on Dec. 31, 2025. “I have no doubt that the president wants to seek retribution against me,” Smith added. “I will say I agree that this department wants to seek retribution against anybody who worked on cases against President Trump.” Criminal defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo of Agnifilo Intrater described Smith’s deposition as a “sworn record for the history books.” “Jack Smith said in no uncertain terms that I believe that Donald Trump is going to come after me if he can,” Agnifilo said of Smith on the Legal AF podcast. “I thought that was a little chilling. I think what he is basically saying is, ‘I have nothing to hide. I didn’t do anything wrong. I am proud of what I did.’” Smith’s office secured separate indictments during the Biden administration alleging Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election and mishandled classified records after leaving the White House in 2021 in violation of federal law. The United States v. Trump criminal cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ended after Trump won reelection to a nonconsecutive second term in 2024. The second Trump administration has fired career prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases and pursued criminal cases against some of Trump’s political adversaries, including former FBI Director James Comey who secured pretrial dismissal of his two-count indictment after pleading not guilty to perjury charges. 'We're Still Here, Proud to Represent Jack Smith' Covington & Burling partners Peter Koski and Lanny Breuer represented Smith during his congressional deposition. Trump issued a presidential memo last February suspending security clearances held by Koski and any other Covington attorney who represented Smith pro bono in Smith’s personal, individual capacity. “I just want to say for the record, we’re still here, proud to represent Jack Smith,” Koski told the House Judiciary Committee. Smith said he believes Trump signed the anti-Covington memo to “seek retribution” and “chill people from having an association with me.” Covington & Burling did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Timothy Heaphy, a Willkie Farr & Gallagher partner who served as chief investigative counsel for the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack, is expected to launch a boutique law firm in partnership with Smith and other former DOJ colleagues. “I have not worked in Big Law,” Smith said during his deposition on Capitol Hill. “I’ve been a public servant my whole career.” U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, served Smith with a testimonial subpoena for a deposition to question Smith about his former prosecutions of Trump. “Mr. Smith’s testimony established that the case against Trump was built largely on statements from his own close associates and fellow Republicans—people who, in Mr. Smith’s words, ‘put their allegiance to the country before the party,’” U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, said in a statement as ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. “The only people ‘weaponizing’ the Justice Department are those who have turned it into a personal protection racket for Donald Trump,” Raskin added. “And Special Counsel Smith proved that in his testimony. The Republicans didn’t lay a glove on him.” Jay Bratt, a former DOJ attorney who worked on the Trump prosecutions, invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination during a May 2025 deposition before the House Judiciary Committee. Bratt is represented by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partners Michael Bopp and David Burns. Bratt’s counsel did not immediately respond to requests for comment. “Jack Smith and his staff spent more than $50 million in taxpayer dollars to target President Trump—an egregious misuse of judicial authority for political ends and part of the prior administration’s unprecedented weaponization of prosecutorial power to upend the democratic process,” the White House alleged in a fact sheet. “I am eyes wide open that this president will seek retribution against me if he can,” Smith said during his congressional deposition. A DOJ spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.