Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump who was recently rejected by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) from serving on a commission to investigate the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, seemingly admitted to having spoken with Trump on the day the attack occurred.
Jordan made the admission on Fox News Tuesday evening, while speaking with host Bret Baier, who had asked the congressman if he had talked to Trump about the events of that day. Jordan responded by saying he has talked to Trump “umpteen times,” adding that he continued to speak with him regularly even after he left the White House.
Baier reiterated what his question was really about, and asked Jordan directly if he had talked to Trump on January 6 itself. Jordan’s response suggested he had.
“Yes,” Jordan said in response to the query. “I mean I’ve talked to the president so many, I can’t remember all the days I have talked to him, but I have certainly talked to the president.”
In a long rambling answer, Jim Jordan admits he talked to Trump on January 6th. When asked what they discussed, Jordan changes the subject to the Speaker and security posture pic.twitter.com/n6sLuudNoX
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 27, 2021
Jordan refused, however, when pressed by Baier during the interview, to say what was discussed between Trump and himself that day, or what his thinking was, and shifted his answer to wrongly blaming Pelosi for the lack of security at the Capitol that day.
Still, the comments from Jordan on Fox News Tuesday could result in him becoming a witness in the January 6 commission. Speaking to The Guardian last week about the commission’s work, committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) said that investigating Trump is “absolutely” a possibility, adding that “nothing is off limits” when it comes to the commission’s work to understand how the attacks on the Capitol came about.
Conversations between Trump and others on that day would be something the commission would want to know about, Thompson added.
“If somebody spoke to the president on January 6, I think it would be important for our committee to know what was said,” Thompson explained. “I can’t imagine you talk about anything else to the president on January 6.”
Anyone who spoke to Trump that day but didn’t willingly agree to testify before the commission could also be subpoenaed, Thompson said.
With Jordan admitting that he spoke to Trump on the day the Capitol breach occurred, and with it being a high possibility that the commission will want to hear what he and the former president said to one another, the decision by Pelosi to reject Jordan from serving on the commission itself seems to have been a wise one. Many would view it as improper for Jordan to have a say in the direction and scope of the committee’s work, especially if the Ohio congressman had advised Trump in some way on how to deal with his mob of loyalists attacking Congress.
Pelosi explained her decision to reject Jordan and Rep. Jim Baker (R-Indiana) for the commission on the grounds of protecting the integrity of the investigation and because the two lawmakers had failed to be truthful in their comments about the January 6 attacks.
“With respect for the integrity of the investigation, with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these Members, I must reject the recommendations of Representatives Banks and Jordan to the Select Committee,” Pelosi said last week.
Trump made a number of comments in a speech during a rally on January 6, in which he touted baseless lies about election fraud, telling his loyalists that they would “never take back our country with weakness.” He also told them to go to the Capitol after his speech to show Congress, in person, that they disagreed with the 2020 election results while Congress was in session that day to certify the Electoral College victory of Joe Biden.
Yet, in spite of the fact that most Americans believe Trump bears some responsibility for the violence that occurred that day, Jordan has erroneously said that Pelosi was to blame, alleging that she did not take proper safety precautions to protect Congress from the mob of Trump loyalists. In reality, Pelosi doesn’t have the authority to do so, as fact-checks against statements made by Jordan and others have confirmed.
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