The referral of one of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s deputies, Thomas Windom, to the Department of Justice for obstruction of justice puts in sharp relief the growing legal peril of Mr. Smith himself in the face of an increasingly angry Republican Congress.

The referral of Mr. Windom comes from Congressman Jim Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary committee and an antagonist of Mr. Smith. Mr. Windom was formerly senior assistant special counsel to Jack Smith, and is a longtime prosecutor at the Department of Justice. Mr. Jordan accuses him of having “flouted the committee’s constitutional oversight authority.”

The dispute centers on two taciturn appearances — in June and September — Mr. Windom made before the Judiciary committee, which is investigating Mr. Smith’s operation. Mr. Jordan writes that “a senior assistant to Special Counsel Jack Smith, Windom possesses unique, firsthand information about the work of that Office. Yet, despite being given express authorization by the DOJ on two separate occasions, Windom declined to answer questions.”

Mr. Jordan tells Attorney General Bondi in his referral letter that Mr. Windom’s silence under oath was part of “an intentional, corrupt effort” to frustrate the investigation into Mr. Smith’s two criminal prosecutions of Mr. Trump — for retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and election interference relating to January 6. Both of those cases ended in dismissal after Mr. Trump won reelection last year.

Mr. Windom, even after his depositions, remained an under the radar figure in the Smith matter until Mr. Trump, on October 30, named Mr. Windom at the end of a long list of a “sinister team” of more prominent Trump antagonists  “who dreamt up the corrupt j-6 witch hunt and should be investigated, immediately. They are a disgrace to our Nation.” 

Less than three weeks after the post, Mr. Jordan referred Mr. Windom to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution, the only member of the Trump-appellated “sinister team”— which included Mr. Smith, Lisa Monaco, Andrew Weissmann, Jay Bratt, Norm Eisen, Christopher Wray and Merrick Garland— to be subject to such a referral. 

Mr. Jordan has also summoned Mr. Smith to testify  — but has so far not issued a criminal referral or a subpoena. The special counsel has struck back by offering to answer questions under oath — but only in a public hearing and if he is granted immunity for his testimony, despite the fact that many of the Judiciary proceedings with witnesses are recorded behind closed doors. Republican lawmakers have been hesitant to agree to those conditions. 

Mr. Jordan accuses Mr. Windom of  “an absurd and indefensible interpretation of DOJ’s authorization by refusing to testify.” Among the topics on which Mr. Jordan hoped Mr. Windom could shed light was “how many Members of Congress were investigated as part of the Arctic Frost investigation and the Jack Smith investigation.”

“Arctic Frost” — a cold-hardy breed of satsuma orange — was the code name given by Mr. Smith to his telephone surveillance of 10 Republican senators and one congressman as part of his January 6 investigation of Mr. Trump. Earlier this week Senator Charles Grassley released emails between Mr. Smith’s office and the DOJ where Main Justice acknowledged the “litigation risk” that could accompany such an invasion of the privacy of lawmakers protected by constitutional immunity.

Mr. Jordan tells Ms. Bondi — the ultimate decider on criminal charges — that Mr. Windom’s “improper refusal to answer nearly all questions during his deposition obstructed the Committee’s fact-finding. As a senior assistant to Special Counsel Jack Smith, Windom possesses unique, firsthand information about the work of that Office.” The Times calls Mr. Windom a “little-known but aggressive federal prosecutor.”

Mr. Windom was a longtime prosecutor in Maryland who was seconded to the District of Columbia to assist the DOJ with its prosecutions for January 6 — an effort that swelled to one of the largest law enforcement operations in American history. More than 1,000 defendants were convicted or pleaded guilty. All of them were immediately pardoned or had their sentences commuted by Mr. Trump when he re-took the White House.

Mr. Jordan referred Mr. Windom to Ms. Bondi for violations of 18 United States Code § 1505 — obstruction of official proceedings. Violating that statute carries a possible prison sentence of five years as well as fines. That was the same crime that the former FBI director, James Comey, was charged with in the Eastern District of Virginia. That case was dismissed after a judge found that the presiding prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, was unlawfully appointed. 

Mr. Windom’s background prosecuting January 6 could be why Mr. Jordan asked Mr. Windom for information relating to “interactions with and materials obtained from the January 6th Select Committee.” That committee, which was led by Congressmen Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney, unanimously recommended that Mr. Trump be criminally charged for election interference.

Mr. Windom, the Times wrote in 2022, was “a key leader in one of the most complex, consequential and sensitive inquiries to have been taken on by the Justice Department in recent memory” — the January 6 case file. The Gray Lady noted, though, that “Mr. Windom’s bosses appear to be intent on preserving his obscurity.” 

Mr. Windom was known within the department for his prosecution of white supremacists, and his creative use of federal sentencing statutes to win meaningful prison sentences for members of racist extremist groups who would otherwise have been difficult to imprison. His craft in pursuing those defendants could  have appealed to Mr. Garland as he staffed the prosecution of the January 6 cases.

Prior to Mr. Smith being appointed in November, 2022, it was Mr. Windom who was pushing the investigation aggressively from the probe of the January 6 protesters to the criminal investigation of people around Mr. Trump, effectively laying out a road map for Mr. Smith’s ultimately failed sprint toward convicting Mr. Trump before the election.

Mr. Windom’s father served as lieutenant governor of Alabama and mounted a failed bid for governor.

The younger Mr. Windom went to Harvard, writing in the student newspaper, the Crimson, in 1998 that “I know little about President Clinton’s current sex scandal or our country’s troubles with Iraq, and I really do not care that much. I place much more importance on what I am doing this weekend, why I have not asked that girl out yet or when I am going to have time to exercise tomorrow.”

Mr. Windom, according to multiple press reports, was removed from federal service in January 2025 along with the other federal prosecutors who worked for Mr. Smith, and had not already resigned prior to Mr. Trump’s return to the White House. His LinkedIn profile — he’s a premium member —  does not list a new job.

In 2025 Mr. Windom ran to be a grand marshal for his 25th reunion class at Harvard. He wrote in his candidate biography that  “I was asked to join the Special Counsel’s Office, where for two years we worked tirelessly investigating and prosecuting efforts to interfere with the lawful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election.”