OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan is upping the ante with Democrats and the January 6 Committee investigating the incident at the U.S. Capitol last January.
In a scathing letter addressed to committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson, Jordan replied to the committee’s request to meet with him and denounced the request as “outside the bounds of any legitimate inquiry.”
“This request is far outside the bounds of any legitimate inquiry, violates core Constitutional principles, and would serve to further erode legislative norms,” Jordan wrote.
In its letter to Jordan, the committee requested the Ohio Republican’s “voluntary cooperation” and claimed to have evidence of “at least one and possibly multiple communications” Jordan had with then-President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021.
Jordan has consistently maintained he has “nothing to hide” regarding January 6 and his response to the committee made that even clearer.
“I have no relevant information that would assist the Select Committee in advancing any legitimate legislative purpose,” Jordan wrote.
“I cannot speak to Speaker Pelosi’s failure to ensure the appropriate security posture at the Capitol complex in advance of well-publicized protests on January 6, 2021,” he added, reaffirming a point he and his Republican colleagues have been making that they believe House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shares blame for the incident and security failures that day.
“Democrats violated the most fundamental and longstanding safeguard for fairness in House proceedings in standing up the Select Committee,” Jordan wrote.
“Speaker Pelosi also failed to consult with Leader McCarthy about the appointment of Republican Members, in direct violation of the requirement in the resolution establishing the Select Committee that she do so,” he continued. “As a result, and without any Republican Members selected by the Republican Leader, the Select Committee has no effective measure of balance or objectivity.”
Jordan recently said the Democrats committee is a “complete assault on Americans’ liberty.”
Jordan, who has called for an investigation into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over her role that day, went off when discussing the committee approving a criminal contempt report to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress.
“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,” he added.
“And why would they subpoena me? I didn’t do anything wrong — I talked to the president,” Mr. Jordan told the Washington Post. “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.”
“And they told these companies that, by the way, don’t let the person we’re telling you to preserve information for, don’t let them know as the law requires, don’t let them know that we’ve asked you to do this,” he said.
“This is scary where they want to go and what they’re doing to Americans’ constitutional rights. And finally, I would ask the fundamental question, how would you expect witnesses to participate when you wouldn’t let Republicans participate in the committee? How can you do that? We know what this is about, it’s plain and simple, this is about they’ve got nothing else to talk about.”
Back in July, Jordan called for an investigation into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.