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JP Cooney, who worked on the criminal prosecutions of President Donald Trump with former special counsel Jack Smith, has mounted a congressional bid in Virginia as a Democrat.
“I was fired by Donald Trump’s Department of Justice because of my work to prosecute him. But I won’t let Trump – or anyone – stop me from serving. I’m J.P. Cooney, and I’m running for Congress in Virginia’s 7th District,” he wrote in a Wednesday post on X.
Fox News Digital reached out to Cooney’s campaign and the White House for comment on Thursday.
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Former special counsel Jack Smith says the pledge of allegiance before he prepares to testify during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on Jan. 22, 2026. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
Cooney’s LinkedIn profile states, “As Principal Deputy to Special Counsel Jack Smith, Cooney was a lead prosecutor in both criminal prosecutions of President Trump for obstruction of justice and conspiracy.”
Smith praised Cooney in a statement reported by The New York Times.
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President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing from the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 6, 2026. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images)
“I’ve known J.P. for a long time and I think the world of him as a person and as a public servant,” Smith noted, according to the outlet. “He’s a man of integrity who has committed his career to upholding the rule of law, and he’s the model of who our country needs in public service.”
Cooney aims to run in a district that does not actually exist yet, the Times noted, explaining that Virginia’s 7th Congressional District would be altered under a redistricting push by Democrats. The plan would need to surmount legal challenges and clear a ballot referendum.
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Former U.S. special counsel Jack Smith, testifies before the House Judiciary Committee about his investigations into President Donald Trump, in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 22, 2026. ( SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)
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“Never has there 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 lie awake every night worrying that Donald Trump does not have the best interests of our country in mind, and that’s a seismic shift in American leadership and politics.”
