FIRST ON FOX: Former Biden special counsel Jack Smith could face potential criminal prosecution after Republicans accused the ex-prosecutor of misleading Congress about the scope of his investigation into President Donald Trump.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, issued a criminal referral for Smith Wednesday, arguing newly released records contradict Smith’s testimony to his committee that he did not obtain or review lawmakers’ text messages during his multiple probes into President Donald Trump.

«All individuals have an obligation to comply with a duly authorized congressional inquiry. Mr. Smith, a former public servant, is no different,» Jordan wrote in a letter to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Wednesday. «Yet his testimony included intentionally false statements designed to obstruct the Committee’s oversight.

«His conduct can only be understood as an effort to thwart the Committee’s inquiry by intentionally making false statements and representations before Congress,» Jordan continued, adding that the Justice Department should examine whether Smith’s actions warrant criminal charges.

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Jordan’s letter accused Smith of making false statements during a December deposition before the House Judiciary Committee. Specifically, Jordan argued that «responses provided by Mr. Smith gave the impression that neither Mr. Smith nor his team had access to the content of members’ privileged text messages.»

«We now know this to be false,» the letter adds.

The referral comes after Smith faced mounting scrutiny from Republicans over allegedly weaponizing the Justice Department and violating constitutional privacy protections during his investigations into alleged interference during the 2020 election and Trump’s handling of classified documents.

He has denied any wrongdoing.

And Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, blasted Jordan’s referral. 

«This referral deliberately distorts and misstates the facts, including what questions the Republicans actually asked at Mr. Smith’s interview. The Republicans fault Mr. Smith for not reading the minds of congressional investigators and for not volunteering information they didn’t ask for. This is absurd. Mr. Smith may be telegenic but he is not telepathic,» Raskin said in a statement.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, released documents last week showing Smith’s team read the text messages of 44 members of Congress from both parties and White House staff during its investigation.

Targeted lawmakers included Jordan and Grassley in addition to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine; House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.; and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.

Trump officials affected included former Vice President Mike Pence, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, FBI Director Kash Patel and Ivanka Trump, among others in the president’s orbit during his first term.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, leaves the U.S. Capitol after the last votes of the week on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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Grassley’s office also found that Smith’s team appeared to violate investigative protocols by accessing text messages that had not been reviewed by a «filter team,» a safeguard designed to prevent investigators from accessing privileged information, according to the documents.

When Smith was asked by congressional investigators if he examined the contents of lawmakers’ text messages during his probe, he said, «no.»

He told the House Judiciary Committee his team only sought telephone toll records.

«Toll records were sought for historical telephone routing information, collected after calls had taken place, identifying the incoming and outgoing call numbers, the time of the calls and their duration,» Smith testified in December. «Toll records do not include the content of calls.»

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, speaks during a hearing in Washington Sept. 16, 2025 (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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The Justice Department told Fox News Digital when reached for comment, «The Department can confirm receipt of the criminal referral from the House Judiciary Committee and will investigate all evidence of criminal conduct.»

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations on Wednesday blasted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as a «clown» for demanding federal authorities arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when Netanyahu arrives in the city.

Danny Danon’s remarks came after Mamdani accused Netanyahu of being a «war criminal» and the «architect of a horrific genocide» against Palestinians while calling on the federal government to execute an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against the Israeli leader.

Netanyahu is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly in Manhattan in September.

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«Those baseless remarks about harassing the prime minister — it’s a joke, and he’s a clown,» Danon told Fox News Digital Wednesday.

«Everyone knows it’s a show. It’s a stunt,» Danon added. «A mayor should be dealing with the homeless people, the garbage in New York, and leave foreign affairs to the people in Washington who are elected to do it. He should take care of the security of the people in New York, especially the Jewish community, which is seeing the rise of antisemitism. That is his first responsibility.»

The YouTube channel for the New York City Mayor’s Office released a video July 21, «Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal.»

«Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal, the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people,» Mamdani said, repeating comments he made in an interview with The New York Times.

Mamdani leveled a series of allegations against the Israeli leader, claiming he was «responsible for the killing of more than 73,000 people, for the maiming of tens of thousands of children, as those who survive undergo amputation without anesthesia.»

He also accused Netanyahu of targeting neonatal hospitals and maternity care centers and alleged that he blocked food and humanitarian aid.

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks to reporters during a news conference in New York on Feb. 17, 2026.  (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

«Just last month, the U.N. confirmed that Palestinian children continue to be deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli armed forces, more than eight months after the so-called ceasefire,» Mamdani said. 

«All as we, as Americans, pay for the bombs that do the killing. There is a reason the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest.»

Danon pushed back sharply against the mayor’s accusations.

«There is a lot of humanitarian aid coming into Gaza every day,» Danon argued.

«Nobody speaks about those issues anymore, but he wants to resume spreading blood libels, promoting the claims of genocide, starvation and all those lies that were spread by him, by his wife and by other people during the war.

«He wants to go back to this situation, but today there are no humanitarian issues in Gaza,» Danon added.

«Mamdani continues to promote those blood libels against Israel and against the Jews.»

Mamdani also said that City Hall cannot act on the warrant unilaterally.

«It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant. The federal government, however, does, and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant,» Mamdani said.

«Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City, nor is any other war criminal at large.»

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said his administration is exploring whether the city has legal authority to arrest Netanyahu, pictured here, if he visits for the U.N. General Assembly. (Ronen Zvulun/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli officials strongly deny all charges. Netanyahu’s office has rejected the ICC’s jurisdiction, labeling it «a kangaroo court that has no jurisdiction over Americans or Israelis.»

«People are smart; they know there’s no legal basis for his remarks,» Danon said. «The U.S. is not part of the ICC. There is no warrant that is actually effective against the prime minister in the U.S. So it’s a political stunt.»

«We have serious issues to deal with — the war with Iran and other critical matters.

«The prime minister is not actually dealing with Mamdani’s remarks at all. He said it very clearly: He intends to come and speak at the U.N.

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«Prime Minister Netanyahu will come to New York and will speak in the General Assembly,» Danon said. «The only thing the mayor can do is come to the U.N., grab a seat, listen to the Prime Minister and maybe learn something from his speech.

«Last year, Mayor Adams came to the prime minister’s speech,» Danon noted. «A local leader can come and hear. That’s the only thing he can do.»

El presidente de Ucrania, Volodimir Zelensky, mantuvo este miércoles una conversación con los enviados especiales del presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff y Jared Kushner, con el objetivo de coordinar esfuerzos para reactivar la vía diplomática hacia un eventual acuerdo de paz. El contacto se produjo un día antes del encuentro previsto entre el secretario de Estado estadounidense, Marco Rubio, y el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores de Rusia, Serguéi Lavrov, que tendrá lugar este jueves en Manila, en el marco de la cumbre de la Asociación de Naciones del Sudeste Asiático (ASEAN).

La llamada se produce en un momento en que las negociaciones entre Kiev y Moscú permanecen estancadas y aún no existe una fecha para retomar los contactos directos entre ambas partes, interrumpidos tras el recrudecimiento de la crisis en Medio Oriente por la guerra entre Israel e Irán.

Zelensky informó del diálogo a través de sus redes sociales y calificó la conversación como un paso relevante dentro de los esfuerzos diplomáticos que impulsa Ucrania junto con Washington.

“Acabo de hablar con los representantes del presidente Trump, Steve Witkoff y Jared Kushner. Una buena conversación sobre cómo activar la diplomacia y acercar más la paz”, escribió el mandatario ucraniano.

El presidente agregó que la coordinación entre ambas delegaciones continúa de forma permanente.

“Nuestros equipos mantienen un contacto cercano”, afirmó.

Zelensky insistió en que el objetivo de su gobierno sigue siendo alcanzar un acuerdo que garantice la seguridad del país.

“Necesitamos la paz, una paz digna, que Ucrania lleva mucho tiempo anhelando”, señaló. También agradeció a Witkoff y Kushner por el “esfuerzo personal” que, según indicó, han realizado para impulsar ese proceso, así como al presidente Trump y al pueblo estadounidense por su “apoyo inquebrantable”.

La conversación tuvo lugar pocas horas antes de la reunión que sostendrán Rubio y Lavrov al margen de la cumbre de la ASEAN en la capital filipina. El encuentro será uno de los contactos diplomáticos de mayor nivel entre Washington y Moscú desde que la nueva administración estadounidense intensificó sus gestiones para intentar destrabar el conflicto iniciado con la invasión rusa de Ucrania en febrero de 2022.

Lavrov confirmó el miércoles que participará en la reunión con Rubio y afirmó que el intercambio permitirá abordar directamente las diferencias existentes entre ambos gobiernos.

“En cualquier caso, esta reunión será útil. Es preferible hacer preguntas y obtener respuestas”, declaró el canciller ruso al anunciar el encuentro.

Uno de los asuntos que previsiblemente ocupará buena parte de la conversación será el llamado “espíritu de Anchorage”, una referencia utilizada por Moscú para describir los entendimientos alcanzados durante la reunión celebrada en agosto de 2025 entre Trump y el presidente ruso, Vladimir Putin, en Alaska.

El gobierno ruso sostiene que en ese encuentro Putin aceptó un plan estadounidense de 27 puntos que había sido entregado previamente por Steve Witkoff durante una visita a Moscú. Entre las propuestas figuraba congelar las líneas actuales del frente y mantener bajo control ruso parte de la región del Donbás.

Sin embargo, Washington ha rechazado que aquel encuentro produjera compromisos definitivos. Rubio sostuvo recientemente que nunca existió un acuerdo vinculante y argumentó que, de haber sido así, la guerra habría terminado hace tiempo.

Las declaraciones del secretario de Estado llevaron a Lavrov a reclamar públicamente que Estados Unidos aclarara cuál es su posición sobre los compromisos discutidos durante aquella cumbre.

Mientras se desarrollan esos contactos diplomáticos, Ucrania continúa reforzando la coordinación con Washington en otros ámbitos.

Horas antes de conversar con Witkoff y Kushner, Zelensky informó que se reunió con el embajador estadounidense ante la OTAN, Matthew Whitaker, para revisar distintos proyectos de cooperación bilateral.

Según explicó el mandatario, ambos analizaron la decisión del presidente Trump de autorizar a Ucrania a fabricar misiles Patriot bajo licencia, además del avance de un acuerdo destinado a ampliar la cooperación en materia de drones.

“Nuestros equipos están trabajando actualmente. Esto tiene un gran potencial y esperamos poder cerrarlo pronto”, afirmó Zelensky al referirse a ese proyecto conjunto.

La conversación con los enviados de Trump y la reunión prevista entre Rubio y Lavrov forman parte de una nueva ronda de contactos diplomáticos impulsados por Washington para intentar reactivar las negociaciones entre Ucrania y Rusia, en un contexto marcado por la ausencia de conversaciones directas entre las partes y por la continuidad de los combates en el frente.