Capitol Riot Probe Wants to Interview Jim Jordan

Another House Republican has already rejected request
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 22, 2021 7:00 PM CST
Jan. 6 Probe Wants to Talk to Rep. Jim Jordan
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, speaks during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, July 27, 2021.   (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot has told a House member it wants to speak to him. The committee told Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, an outspoken conservative Trump ally, that it is seeking his "voluntary cooperation" in an appearance before the panel early next month, the Guardian reports. The panel told the Ohio lawmaker that it wants to discuss his communications with Donald Trump on the day of the riot, reports Reuters. "Despite the urgent requests that the President speak and instruct the rioters to leave, President Trump did not make such a statement for multiple hours," the panel wrote in its letter to Jordan.

The letter said the panel wants to discuss the communications "in detail," along with "any communications you had on January 5th or 6th with those in the Willard War Room, the Trump legal team, White House personnel or others involved in organizing or planning the actions and strategies for January 6th." CNN notes that Jordan was one of the five Republicans originally selected by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to be on the committee, but McCarthy pulled all five picks after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Jordan and Rep. Jim Banks could damage the "integrity of the investigation."

Jordan, who supported Trump's election fraud claims in the weeks before the riot, is the second serving Republican congressman the panel has asked to speak to. Rep. Scott Perry was asked to speak to the committee and provide documents, including his communications with Trump, but he rejected the request Tuesday, MSNBC reports. The Pennsylvania lawmaker tweeted that the "entity is illegitimate, and not duly constituted under the rules of the US House of Representatives." Jordan is widely expected to reject the request as well, which could potentially lead to subpoenas and an unprecedented legal battle. (More Jim Jordan stories.)

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