The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee in the United States has subpoenaed former Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith, who led the two federal prosecutions of President Donald Trump.

The announcement on Wednesday came despite Smith previously volunteering to appear for an open meeting with the Republican-led panel, which is probing the indictments against Trump.

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“Due to your service as Special Counsel, the Committee believes that you possess information that is vital to its oversight of this matter,” committee chairman Republican Jim Jordan wrote in a letter to Smith.

Jordan also asked Smith to produce records for the committee in addition to his testimony. Smith has been summoned for a closed-door interview later this month.

One of the federal indictments that Smith led related to Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and his actions on January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the US Capitol.

The second pertained to his hoarding of classified documents at his Florida resort.

Both cases were dropped after Trump’s re-election in November 2024. Longstanding Justice Department policy bars the prosecution of a sitting president.

Trump has portrayed the indictments as part of a coordinated, politically motivated “witch-hunt”.

Peter Koski, one of Smith’s lawyers, criticised the private nature of the planned deposition in a statement.

“We are disappointed that offer was rejected, and that the American people will be denied the opportunity to hear directly from Jack on these topics,” Koski said.

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“Jack looks forward to meeting with the committee later this month to discuss his work and clarify the various misconceptions about his investigation.”

In recent weeks, Republicans in Congress have focused on revelations that Smith’s team analysed phone records of some lawmakers around the time of the January 6 riot.

Smith’s legal team has maintained the records showed only basic information about outgoing and incoming calls: their time, date and duration, but not the contents of the telephone conversations.

“Mr Smith’s actions as Special Counsel were consistent with the decisions of a prosecutor who has devoted his career to following the facts and the law, without fear or favor and without regard for the political consequences,” Smith’s lawyers wrote to lawmakers in October.

“His investigative decisions were similarly motivated, and the subpoena for toll records was entirely proper, lawful, and consistent with established Department of Justice policy. While Mr Smith’s prosecutions of President Trump have predictably been politicized by others, politics never influenced his decision making,” they added.

When asked about the subpoena during an Oval Office news conference on Wednesday, Trump repeated his attacks on Smith, calling him “a sick man”.

Even so, Trump added, “ I’d rather see him testify publicly because there’s no way he can answer the questions.”