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JP Cooney, who worked on President Donald Trump's criminal prosecutions with former special counsel Jack Smith, has run as a Democrat for Congress in Virginia.
“I was fired by Donald Trump's Justice Department because of my work prosecuting him. But I will not let Trump – or anyone – stop me from serving. I am JP Cooney and I am running for Congress in Virginia's 7th District,” he wrote in a Wednesday post on X.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) reacted to the announcement in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
“JP Cooney wants Virginians to believe that weaponizing the law to attack President Trump and Republicans and launching bogus, politically motivated investigations that wasted millions of taxpayer dollars is a qualification for public office,” said Republican National Committee spokeswoman Emma Hall. “The reality is that he is just another radical Democrat whose only goal is to remove President Trump and obstruct the America First agenda, even as he delivers historic results for Virginia.”
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Former special prosecutor Jack Smith takes the oath of allegiance before preparing to testify during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on January 22, 2026. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
Cooney's LinkedIn profile reads: “As a senior deputy to special counsel Jack Smith, Cooney was lead prosecutor in both criminal prosecutions of President Trump for obstruction of justice and conspiracy.”
Smith praised Cooney in a statement published by The New York Times.
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President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before departing the White House in Washington, DC, on February 6, 2026. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
“I have known JP for a long time and think a lot of him as a person and as a public servant,” Smith said, according to the outlet. “He is a man of integrity who has committed his career to upholding the rule of law and is the model of who our country needs in public service.”
Cooney is aiming to run in a district that doesn't actually exist yet, the Times noted, explaining that Virginia's 7th Congressional District would be redrawn under a redistricting push by Democrats. The plan would need to overcome legal challenges and pass a referendum.
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Former US Special Counsel Jack Smith testifies before the House Judiciary Committee about its investigations into President Donald Trump, in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 22, 2026. (SAÚL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
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“There has never been a Congress that has been such a weak and ineffective check on a president's abuses of power,” Cooney said, according to the Times. “I stay awake every night worrying that Donald Trump doesn't have our country's best interests in mind, and that is a seismic shift in American leadership and politics.”
