共和党人过去两年来一直在寻找针对前特别检察官 Jack Smith 的方式，而他们认为自己可能已经找到了一个。然而，据法律专家 Elie Honig 称，他们的努力更多建立在希望之上，而不是法律现实之上。

周四上午，总统 Donald Trump 在 Truth Social 上分享了一篇博客文章，报道称众议员 Jim Jordan（俄亥俄州共和党人）已将 Smith 移送刑事起诉，指称 Smith 在宣誓作证时撒谎。

"Justice at last???" Trump 在分享该报道时写道。

国会的刑事移送本身并不会带来指控；司法部必须决定证据是否支持起诉。这一门槛是 Honig 分析的核心，因为伪证案件通常需要证明证人在宣誓后，明知地对一个明确问题给出了虚假的、具有实质性的回答。

CNN 法律分析师 Elie Honig 解释了为什么他认为这一努力站不住脚。

"I do not think there is a valid, provable federal crime here against Jack Smith," Honig 说。"And here's why: The core of the allegation that Jim Jordan is making is that Jack Smith testified back in December that he had not seen the substance of text messages involving members of Congress. But it later turned out he had seen text messages."

Honig 指出，表面上看，这可能听起来像是在撒谎，但难点在于审查实际的证词记录，并准确识别当时讨论的是哪一套文件。

"The problem is there are two different sets of documents that Jack Smith testified about," Honig 解释说。"The first one that he's being questioned about. There are documents that Jack Smith obtained: phone records of certain members of Congress. And as Jack Smith testified here, you can see all he saw is the record of what phone number called, what phone number on what date, and for how long."

CNN 在屏幕上显示了证词记录，展示了这名共和党议员与 Smith 之间的问答：

"Okay. Did the toll records that you requested from the senators, did they include the content of the phone calls?" 这名议员问道。Smith 回答说："No."

这名议员随后问道："Did the records that you requested, the toll records from the Member of Congress, include the content of the text messages?" Smith 再次回答："No."

通话计费记录是显示通话何时发生的文件——它们不包含短信。Smith 曾审阅的来自国会议员的短信来自国家档案馆，该机构会为档案保存目的备份此类通信。这些文件与通话计费记录是完全不同的一套文件。

因此，当共和党人询问 Smith “the toll records from the Member of Congress” 是否包括短信内容时，Smith 准确地表示并不包括——因为通话计费记录本质上不包含短信。

Honig 承认，Smith 本可以主动说明他曾在另一套国家档案馆文件中看到短信内容，但他只是按提问的方式作答。

"It's not false for him to say there that he had not seen the substance of the text messages," Honig 补充说，他指的是具体针对通话计费记录的回答。

Honig 预计，如果司法部试图起诉 Smith，Smith 很可能会以“报复性起诉”为由申请驳回案件。

"And if he makes that argument, which he surely will, if he gets prosecuted, this will be an exhibit to make that argument," Honig 说。"He'll say, look, the president is openly pushing for this. There's a long-standing history between us, and that will bolster a vindictive prosecution defense should Jack Smith ever get charged."

虽然 Jordan 声称 Smith 说的是“半真半假”的话，但 Honig 指出，伪证案件不能建立在半真半假的说法之上。"In order to make a perjury case, you have to show a specific, clear question and a specific, clear false answer."

Jordan 是众议院司法委员会主席，曾就读法学院，但从未参加律师资格考试，也从未执业做过律师。

Smith 的律师发表声明回应称："This reflects a chilling eagerness to weaponize the justice system by attacking a career, nonpartisan public servant who faithfully and fearlessly performed his duties by following the facts and the law."