Jack Smith told senators he never met John Brennan, yet declassified records show his prosecutors sat down with the former CIA director to prep expert testimony against Trump.
Former special counsel Jack Smith faced Senate questions last week about any contact with former CIA Director John Brennan. His answers were blunt.
Fox News reported that Smith told the Senate Judiciary Committee he had never met Brennan and later said he had no recollection of any conversation with him. Newly declassified White House records now show a different picture of what Smith’s own team was doing in 2023.
Two assistant special counsels working under Smith joined FBI agents for a November 2023 meeting with Brennan at CIA headquarters in McLean, Virginia. The records state the purpose was “to discuss expert testimony to National Defense Information in the forthcoming trial.”
That trial was the classified-documents case against Donald Trump. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley says the meeting fits the exact question Smith was asked, and that Smith’s answer did not match the record.
Grassley pressed Smith on whether Brennan ever gave him consultation or counsel during the special counsel work or at any other time. He also asked when and for what purpose.
Smith’s reply to the committee was direct.
"I've never met John Brennan"
He later added another line under questioning.
"I have no recollection of having a conversation with John Brennan"
Grassley did not treat those answers as a full account. After the White House released the records Monday, the Iowa Republican told Fox News Digital the November 2023 session happened while Smith was special counsel and amounted to consultation or counsel from Brennan to Smith and his team.
"Smith’s response before the Senate Judiciary Committee was highly evasive and misleading, at minimum."
Fox News Digital sought comment from attorneys for Smith and from the Justice Department. Neither responded.
The released material includes two pages of notes bearing CIA headquarters headers. Lines under Brennan’s name are blacked out by government redactions. The rest of the ruled pages are blank.
The records do not show Brennan had firsthand knowledge of Trump’s alleged handling of classified documents. Brennan also was not serving as CIA director during the period covered by Smith’s classified-documents case, often referred to in the reporting as “Plasmic Echo.”
Even so, prosecutors under Smith still brought him in to discuss expert testimony on National Defense Information. That is the core of the new disclosure: a former Obama-era spy chief, a longtime Trump critic, sitting with Smith’s assistants and FBI agents while the case was being built.
Smith has rejected claims that his investigations were politically motivated. He has said his decisions were driven by evidence and has defended his team’s work. The declassified meeting notes put those assurances next to a concrete fact pattern Republicans say he soft-pedaled under oath.
The Brennan session is not the only flashpoint. Grassley and other Republican lawmakers have accused Smith of investigative overreach and political bias across the Trump probes, including the Arctic Frost inquiry into the 2020 election.
That probe, according to the reporting, obtained financial information involving thousands of Trump donors and phone records of Republican lawmakers. Smith appeared before the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee last week for oversight on both Arctic Frost and the classified-documents case. He also testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Jan. 22, 2026, about the same body of work.
Investigative reporter John Solomon has described the broader pattern in harsher terms, calling the probes part of a “10-year conspiracy to stop [Donald Trump] using the resources of the United States government.” Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, who served as Trump impeachment counsel, wrote in a 2025 Wall Street Journal op-ed that Smith “was a tool of the Biden administration to put Trump in prison” and called the work “a partisan weapon that broke the rules, lied to the court and engaged in bad faith throughout.”
Those are sharp outside assessments. The new White House release is narrower and more concrete. It does not settle every dispute about motive. It does show Smith’s prosecutors sought Brennan’s help on expert testimony while Smith later told senators he had never met the man and could not recall a conversation with him.
The declassified package still leaves major gaps. The names of the two assistant special counsels who attended the November 2023 meeting are not identified in the reporting. The full unredacted text under Brennan’s name remains blacked out. The public record does not state whether Smith personally approved the meeting, received a readout, or was briefed afterward.
Absolute calendar dates for the Senate hearing and the Monday declassification were not fixed beyond the relative timing in the coverage. What is fixed is the sequence: meeting in November 2023 for trial prep; Smith’s denials of personal contact under Senate questioning last week; White House release of the CIA-header notes this week; and Grassley’s charge that the answer was evasive.
For a special counsel who cast his work as evidence-driven and insulated from politics, the optics are straightforward. His team went to CIA headquarters to work with a former Obama CIA director on testimony aimed at Trump. When Congress asked about Brennan’s role, the former special counsel said he had never met him.
Voters can weigh the redactions, the missing names, and Smith’s “no recollection” line for themselves. Accountability starts with matching sworn answers to the paper trail, and this paper trail is no longer hidden.
