GOP Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the GOP-led Senate Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday at the start of the panel's hearing on Jack Smith, called Democrats' demand to have the Biden Justice Department special prosecutor testify earlier "a misguided and dangerous demand."

"If we had followed that misguided and dangerous demand, we wouldn’t have had most of the necessary records needed to show how Jack Smith’s corrupt operation undermined the rule of law and threatened our very political institutions," Grassley said in prepared opening remarks.

"Of course, that was the strategy of the Democrats – call a premature hearing so all we had were Smith’s account that would bury the story. That’s exactly the wrong way to do this, and it would’ve broken faith with the American people Jack Smith has wronged."

The effort to have the hearing earlier was led by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the committee.

Smith led two investigations into President Donald Trump, one on alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election that Trump lost and Trump taking administration documents with him to Florida after he left the White House.

Washington Republicans have named their investigation into whether partisan FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors improperly investigated them "Arctic Frost."

"Jack Smith took partisanship to a new level," Grassley also said in opening remarks.

Grassley said Smith sought (phone) toll records of 16 members of Congress and also obtained the content of member communications, breaching Speech or Debate.

He also said Smith’s subpoenas targeted hundreds of Republican groups and individuals, and  naed 87 Trump White House phones, "knowing they’d include communications with members of Congress – 44 members, to be exact."