OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan is gearing up to fight.
Jordan is warning the Democrats’ committee investigating the incident at the U.S. Capitol last January is a “political operation” aimed at stopping Donald Trump from running for president in 2024.
“There’s been subpoenas issued to 11 individuals, 11 American citizens who asked the government permission on an application to hold the Trump rally,” Jordan said. “The government granted it and now the January 6 committee petitions them to ask them questions about exercising their First Amendment right to assemble.”
“And why would they subpoena me? I didn’t do anything wrong — I talked to the president,” Jordan said. “I talk to the president all the time. I just think that’s — you know where I’m at on this commission — this is all about going after President Trump. That seems obvious.”
“Everyone in the country sees this as a political operation. This is designed to get after President Trump. Because they don’t want him to run again,” he added.
The Democrat-led Jan. 6 committee has imploded in recent weeks.
Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, who serves as the vice-chair of the committee, and her star witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, are facing serious questions following her testimony.
Hutchinson, a former aide to ex-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, testified before the committee during a special hearing and many of her allegations against former President Donald Trump have been refuted as being outright lies.
At the hearing, Cheney displayed a handwritten note that Hutchinson testified she wrote after Meadows handed her a note card and pen to take his dictation, according to ABC News.
Eric Herschmann, a former Trump White House lawyer, claims the note was written by him.
Hutchinson, testifying about the note, said, “That’s a note that I wrote at the direction of the chief of staff on Jan. 6, likely around 3 o’clock.”
“And it’s written on the chief of staff note card, but that’s your handwriting, Ms. Hutchinson?” Cheney then asked.
“That’s my handwriting,” Hutchinson answered.
A spokesperson for Herschmann told ABC News, “The handwritten note that Cassidy Hutchinson testified was written by her was in fact written by Eric Herschmann on Jan. 6, 2021. All sources with direct knowledge and law enforcement have and will confirm that it was written by Mr. Herschmann.”
After Hutchinson’s testimony, many of her salacious claims were rebuffed by those with the knowledge of what actually happened.
One of the most spectacular parts of her testimony came when she accused Trump of grabbing for the steering wheel of the presidential limo after being told that he could not go to the Capitol on January 6, 2020, and then grabbing for the throat of Secret Service agent Bobby Engel.
But within hours of her testimony, Engel said that the incident she spoke of never happened.
Engel, the agent who was driving the presidential SUV, and Trump security official Tony Ornato both disputed Hutchin’s allegations and said they would testify under oath that no agent was assaulted and Trump never lunged for the steering wheel.
A third official, former Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann, disputed Hutchinson’s claim that she wrote a note for Trump to read on January 6.
Herschmann said the note was written by him, not Hutchinson.
BREAKING: Former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann says that it is not true that Cassidy Hutchinson wrote the handwritten note that she testified on Tuesday that she wrote. He says it's not true because he was the one who wrote the note. https://t.co/jBBtnOwzTn
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) June 29, 2022
🚨 A source close to the Secret Service tells me both Bobby Engel, the lead agent, and the presidential limousine/SUV driver are prepared to testify under oath that neither man was assaulted and that Mr. Trump never lunged for the steering wheel.
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) June 28, 2022
Story, w/ @nicholaswu12 @kylecheney: https://t.co/F3AULMRK4j
— Betsy Woodruff Swan (@woodruffbets) June 29, 2022
For her part, Cheney is standing by Hutchinson despite almost all of her allegations being rebuked and disputed.
Cheney told ABC’s “This Week” host Jonathan Karl that she is “absolutely confident” in Hutchinson’s testimony.
“She’s an incredibly brave young woman,” Cheney continued. “The committee is not going to stand by and watch her character be assassinated by anonymous sources and by men who are claiming executive privilege.”
For her part, Cheney is about to pay the price for her anti-Trump given crusade given a poll found that she’s down a whopping 30 points in her re-election bid in Wyoming against Trump-endorsed Harriet Hageman.
