WASHINGTON, D.C. – When the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing Thursday to begin presenting its findings, it will do so without the cooperation of several supporters of former President Donald Trump, including Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan.
Jordan (R, OH-4) is ignoring a subpoena from the committee while simultaneously becoming a leading opponent of the panel.
On Wednesday, he stepped up his criticism during a press conference.
“Their goal is to end the Electoral College and their goal is to stop President Trump from running in 2024, plain and simple,” Jordan said.
The bipartisan committee — made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans — has not been tasked with that, but it is trying to understand how the attack happened, whether it was planned, and what Trump did that day.
For those reasons, among others, the committee has been trying to interview Jordan, one of Trump’s biggest allies in Congress.
On Jan. 6, 2021, about 2,000 Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an effort to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the election.
Speaking on the House floor that afternoon, Jordan pushed the baseless claim that there was widespread voting fraud and that it made Biden’s win illegitimate.
“60 million people, 60 million Americans think it was stolen,” Jordan said in his speech.
He tweeted his objections were “about the Constitution,” and that Jan. 6 was “the date of ‘ultimate’ significance.”
As rioters swarmed the Capitol and beat police officers, Jordan’s message changed.
“Stop the violence. Support Capitol Police,” he tweeted at 3:02 p.m.
Almost three hours later, he posted, “What happened today is wrong and is not what America is about.”
Still, when Congress reconvened that night, Jordan stuck to his pledge and objected to certifying the results in three states.
Republicans initially named Jordan and four GOP colleagues to serve on the Jan. 6th Select Committee, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected Jordan and Indiana Rep. Jim Banks because of their rhetoric and election objections.
A week later, Jordan made headlines in an interview as he could not fully explain how much he interacted with Trump on Jan. 6.
“On January 6th, did you speak with him before, during, or after the Capitol was attacked?” he was asked.
“I spoke with him that day, after? I think after? I don’t know if I spoke with him in the morning or not. I just don’t know,” Jordan said.
In October, he spoke again about it when asked during a House Rules Committee hearing.
“From my memory, I talked to him after the attack happened and we were moved to the chamber. I may have talked to him before. I don’t know,” Jordan said. “But all I’m saying is I had nothing to do with any of this.”
In December, the panel sent Jordan a letter asking him to voluntarily answer questions about his interactions with Trump and his allies leading up to the day of the Capitol attack.
Soon after, Jordan confirmed reports he had spoken with Trump on the morning of Jan. 6 for 10 minutes, but he declined to cooperate with the committee. That led the panel to take the extraordinary step of issuing a subpoena to him and four other House Republicans in May.
Jordan said last summer that he was open to cooperating because he had nothing to hide.
That changed, though, after the subpoena. In an interview on May 17 of this year, Jordan said he was leaning toward ignoring the subpoena because he complained the committee released part of a text message he had sent Trump’s chief of staff, but not the whole thing.
“So I think anyone would have reservations about going in front of a committee that’s already doctored evidence and lied to the country about it,” Jordan said.
What happens next is unclear.
The committee has given Jordan until June 11 to appear for a deposition.
When asked on Wednesday if he would show, Jordan was non-committal.
“I got nothing to hide, but I got nothing to offer,” he said.
