Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has invited former Special Counsel Jack Smith to testify before the committee next month as Republicans intensify their investigation into Smith’s handling of Operation Arctic Frost and what they describe as the weaponization of the Justice Department against President Donald Trump.

Grassley announced Monday on X that he has asked Smith to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 22, saying the American public deserves a full accounting of the investigation.

“Im inviting Jack Smith 2 testify before Senate Judic Cmte on Sept 22,” Grassley wrote. “American ppl deserve nothing less than full transparency+ accountability for Arctic Frost and special counsel lawfare.”

According to Politico, Smith has agreed to testify, provided the Justice Department gives its approval.

In a letter, Smith’s attorneys, Lanny Bruer and Peter Koski, defended his record as special counsel, saying he carried out his responsibilities in accordance with department rules and legal standards.

They wrote that Smith “steadfastly followed Justice Department policies, observed applicable legal requirements, and took actions based on the facts and the law” while serving as special counsel.

The attorneys also said Smith welcomes the opportunity to testify publicly in order to “correct the many mischaracterizations” regarding his work.

Grassley has spent months leading a Senate inquiry into Operation Arctic Frost, the federal investigation that examined efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Republicans have become increasingly critical of the investigation after learning that Smith’s team secretly obtained telephone records and text messages involving Republican lawmakers and other GOP figures.

According to Grassley, investigators subpoenaed the phone toll records of approximately a dozen Republican senators, collected text messages from more than 40 members of Congress, and obtained private communications and financial records involving hundreds of Republican individuals and organizations.

“In the process of a deeply flawed, weaponized investigation, Jack Smith subpoenaed phone toll records from a dozen senators, scooped up text messages from over 40 members of Congress, and subpoenaed the private communications and financial records of hundreds of other Republican entities and individuals,” Grassley said in a statement.

“He needs to answer directly to Congress for his actions,” the Iowa Republican added. “Smith must be honest and forthcoming in his answers, because the American people deserve nothing less than full transparency and accountability.”

The Hill previously reported that Grassley revealed last year that Smith’s investigation sought the phone records of 10 Republican senators and at least one member of the House of Representatives.

Grassley has since disclosed that the Justice Department informed him communications involving 44 lawmakers and White House staff members were also reviewed during the course of the investigation.

Smith last appeared before Congress in January, when he testified before the House Judiciary Committee and defended the criminal investigations into Trump, maintaining that the evidence justified the charges that were brought.

Those federal prosecutions were later dismissed after President Trump won the 2024 election, consistent with longstanding Justice Department policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president.

The Sept. 22 hearing is expected to become another major confrontation over the Justice Department’s investigations into Trump, with Republicans preparing to challenge Smith’s investigative methods while Democrats are expected to argue that the former special counsel acted in accordance with DOJ policy and the rule of law.