J.P. Cooney, ex-Trump prosecutor in Jack Smith's office, is running for Congress

A former deputy to ex-special counsel Jack Smith, J.P. Cooney, announced Wednesday morning that he is launching a congressional bid in Virginia.

"I don't want my children, friends, or community to have any doubt about where I stand in this moment," Cooney said on LinkedIn. "Today, I am announcing my candidacy for Congress in Virginia's proposed new Seventh District."

Cooney shared an article from The New York Times, which first reported his election bid, and said he is running as a Democrat.

In his time working with Smith, Cooney was "a lead prosecutor in both criminal prosecutions of President Trump for obstruction of justice and conspiracy," his LinkedIn account says, referring to the federal indictments of Trump on charges related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and alleged mishandling of classified documents.

Days into Trump's second term, the Justice Department fired the lawyers in the special counsel's office, including Cooney.

Cooney is running in a proposed new congressional district that would stretch from Arlington to rural parts of the state. The district would lean blue, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, which indicated that more than 58% of people in the proposed district supported Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, in last year's elections. The Democratic-led redistricting effort in Virginia, as well as other blue states, came in response to other mid-decade efforts by Republicans to redraw their state maps

The state Supreme Court will decide whether the proposed map can move forward after a county circuit judge ruled that lawmakers could not bring the map to voters in April.

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Smith told lawmakers in public testimony last month that his team found "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" that Trump took part in a "criminal scheme" to overturn the 2020 election results. Smith also led the investigation into Trump's handling of classified documents; the case was dismissed after a judge ruled that Smith's appointment was unlawful.

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Trump denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty in both cases. He continues to make false claims of fraud in the 2020 election, and the FBI's recent seizure of ballots and voter information from an elections hub in Fulton County, Georgia, has prompted concerns among Democrats in Congress that the administration could be further pursuing fraud claims ahead of the midterm elections. Trump also has repeatedly bashed Smith, calling him "a deranged animal," and has said he hoped Attorney General Pam Bondi was "looking at what he's done."

In his LinkedIn biography, Cooney highlighted his work "taking on the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, Steve Bannon, Roger Stone and Peter Navarro" in the aftermath of Trump and his allies' spreading false claims about the 2020 presidential election, which Joe Biden won. Cooney also emphasized bipartisanship as "a hallmark" of both his life and his career.

Cooney served in the Justice Department for nearly 18 years before he was dismissed along with other special counsel prosecutors in January 2025, according to his LinkedIn profile.