Despite saying just a few months ago that he had “nothing to hide,” Republican Rep. Jim Jordan has now joined the growing number of diehard Trump allies who are refusing to cooperate with the January 6 House committee.
The committee sent Jordan a letter last month asking for his voluntary cooperation with their investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol, as well as the events leading up to the attack, as Donald Trump and his allies, including some sitting Republican lawmakers, sought to overturn the results of the presidential election.
In their letter, the committee says they are seeking information regarding communications Jordan admitted to having with Trump on January 6 and the surrounding days, as well as meetings between November 2020 and January 2021 “about strategies for overturning the results of the 2020 election.”
It’s not surprising that the committee wants to question Jordan. As the New York Times writes, “Mr. Jordan was deeply involved in Mr. Trump’s effort to fight the election results, including participating in planning meetings in November 2020 at Trump campaign headquarters in Arlington, Va., and a meeting at the White House in December 2020.”
So it is equally unsurprising that Jordan is refusing to voluntarily meet with the committee. Rather than admit he does, in fact, have something to hide (probably lots of somethings, in fact), he’s tossing out all the classic panicked denial buzzwords: “partisan,” “unconstitutional,” “witch hunt,” etc, etc.
Jordan claims the investigation is “illegitimate” and as evidence of that claim, he points to the fact that the committee is only questioning Republicans. But the panel is looking to gather information from people who talked to Trump, a man not exactly known for reaching across the aisle and discussing his thoughts and plans with Democrats.
The panel is also looking into the plan to overturn the election results by objecting to electoral college votes and again, as far as we know, not a single Democrat was involved in that plan. So yeah, the committee wants to talk to Republicans.
Other Trump allies (and even Trump himself) have also tried to argue that the investigation is illegitimate and have sued to stop the panel from taking evidence and requiring they testify. Those suits have generally been dismissed by the courts so I imagine Jim Jordan can expect a subpoena in his near future and, if he ignores that, a case of contempt of Congress and—in theory, fingers crossed!—jail.
(image: SAUL LOEB/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
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