Jack Smith wants to make his case against Donald Trump to Congress — but he’s walking into a political and legal minefield.

The Biden-era special counsel who brought the first and only federal criminal charges ever leveled against a former president is set to testify Wednesday morning to members of House Judiciary.

The stakes are high.

Republicans are looking to portray Smith as a tool of a weaponized Justice Department — an allegation Republicans have brandished amid recent revelations Smith obtained phone records of at least eight GOP senators as part of his probe into Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 election results.

“What they did all along, everything was wrong … a lot of things that were just not normal course of investigation or prosecution,” Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told Blue Light News. “If he comes in and doesn’t answer questions, that’s going to be a problem.”

Judiciary Republican Troy Nehls of Texas, when asked about his ideal outcome for Smith’s deposition, didn’t hold back.

“Jack Smith should be in jail — if not prison,” he said. “He’s a crook … and he needs to be held accountable for all his games that he played.”

Democrats, meanwhile, are eager for more information about the investigations Smith had to abandon after Trump won reelection in 2024, bowing to the fact that sitting presidents cannot face federal charges while in office. Smith was investigating Trump for election subversion attempts and mishandling classified documents.

“We want to hear exactly what he found, and what he did,” said Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top House Judiciary Democrat.

Peter Koski, a former top DOJ official and a member of Smith’s legal team, said in a statement his client is “looking forward to answering the committee’s questions, sharing the legal basis for his investigative steps, and discussing the evidence of President Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his unlawful possession of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.”

But Smith is bound by complex secrecy rules that limit what he is able to share with lawmakers.

Raskin maintains Smith’s task Wednesday is simple: “He just needs to come and tell the truth.”

What else we’re watching:   

— Decision day for health care: The House will vote Wednesday on the GOP health care package without an Affordable Care Act subsidy extension — and without any of the amendments moderates were seeking. Members are set to vote on the rule Wednesday morning, with the final vote on the bill expected Wednesday afternoon (assuming the rule is adopted).

The Problem Solvers will also huddle with rank-and-file senators Wednesday to discuss a framework that includes an ACA extension and other health policy items for January.

— Carr in the hot seat: FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s appearance before Senate Commerce Wednesday will be a telling moment for Republicans as GOP committee members balance concerns over free speech with their reluctance to criticize the administration.

Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told reporters Tuesday he plans to use the FCC oversight hearing to explore free speech concerns, though it’s unclear how far most Republicans on the committee will go in relitigating Carr’s threats against TV show host Jimmy Kimmel earlier this year.

Kyle Cheney, Meredith Lee Hill, Mia McCarthy and John Hendel contributed to this report.

Vulnerable Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick told Speaker Mike Johnson on the House floor Tuesday he would not withdraw his discharge petition that would force a floor vote on extending expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies — amid Johnson’s attempt to find a potential agreement to allow a vote on an amendment instead that would be similar in substance.

The standoff, described by three people granted anonymity to divulge private conversations, shows the pressure GOP leadership is under to defuse a politically challenging dynamic around the future of the enhanced Obamacare subsidies that have divided Johnson’s conference.

At the same time, the speaker’s allies argue it shows that the GOP moderates themselves are still refusing to reach a deal ahead of a Wednesday vote on a health care bill Republicans want to pass to show they are serious about preventing a looming spike in insurance premiums.

Fitzpatrick and Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.), in private conversations with Johnson and other Republicans, have both so far declined to turn off their respective discharge petitions in the absence of an agreement they can vote on this week alongside the GOP health care bill.

Johnson in recent days told GOP moderates who want a vote on an ACA subsidies extension he would agree to such a vote if they in turn agreed to turn off their various discharge petitions and make sure the amendment was paid for with a satisfactory offset. Johnson also wanted to use Fitzpatrick’s two-year ACA extension bill as the base for a compromise amendment, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. But those talks never produced a deal.

The speaker told reporters after talking to Fitzpatrick Tuesday afternoon that they’re still “working” on various ACA amendment options. But, he said, “I thought there was an agreement on the Fitzpatrick amendment and then they made different decisions.”

The speaker added later he thought “there’s a real possibility they get a vote on it” and noted he “certainly tried my best to provide for that.”

Fitzpatrick and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) huddled with Johnson on the floor Tuesday evening, along with Kiggans and a larger group of moderates and Johnson’s top floor and policy staff, but the group still disbanded without an agreement, according to two people involved in the conversation.

The House Rules Committee, meanwhile, is meeting to pave the way for floor consideration of the narrow health package endorsed by House Republican leaders, as centrists have submitted more than five proposed amendments to either extend the subsidies or provide new tax deductions for health insurance premiums.

If no ACA extension amendment makes it to the floor Wednesday, there are several House Republicans who are considering signing onto Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries three-year clean extension of the ACA subsidies he is also pushing through a discharge petition, according to three people granted anonymity to share their direct knowledge of the matter.

Fitzpatrick and his bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus will also meet with a bipartisan group of rank and file senators Wednesday to discuss a possible framework they could agree on for a health care deal.

House Republicans succeeded Tuesday in advancing a bipartisan bill aimed at speeding up the federal permitting process, fending off a late challenge from hard-liners who wanted more power to kill offshore wind projects.

The House adopted the rule governing floor debate on several bills in a 215-209 vote. Among those bills that will now be considered on the chamber floor later this week is the so-called SPEED Act, which would overhaul the National Environmental Policy Act to remove regulatory roadblocks around building and completing energy projects.

But in order to secure the support of holdouts — led by GOP Reps. Andy Harris of Maryland and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey — Republican leaders will have to alter a provision of the bipartisan legislation in the Rules Committee to ensure the Trump administration can continue to block offshore wind developments in these two states specifically.

This adjustment will be made as part of a separate rule paving the way for floor consideration of a health care package the Rules Committee is debating Tuesday afternoon and that the full House is expected to vote on Wednesday.

A floor vote on the SPEED Act, with the new change, is still on track for Thursday. Van Drew said it would include “really important language so we can go back and show these wind projects were rushed through and that the permitting wasn’t proper.”

Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman had included the original provision in the SPEED Act during the panel markup that would make it harder for presidents to cancel permits for any energy project. It was added to address concerns from Democrats that President Donald Trump was prepared to attack wind and solar projects — and assuage anxieties across all energy industries that their project approvals could get arbitrarily yanked depending on the party in power.

But Harris, Van Drew and others argued the provision would undermine Trump’s anti-offshore wind agenda, with which the two Republicans align.

Alongside Van Drew and Harris, the rule initially had GOP defections from Reps. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Chris Smith of New Jersey, Tim Burchett of Tennessee and Anna Paulina Luna of Florida. Leaders were able to flip all the “no” votes with the exceptions of Luna and Smith.

Other Republicans, including Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Kat Cammack of Florida, Andrew Clyde of Georgia and Andy Biggs of Arizona initially withheld their votes.

Most of these members were seen huddling in long conversations on the House floor with Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Majority Whip Tom Emmer.