Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) said Thursday on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom” that “it sure” looked like Attorney General Merrick Garland “misled” Americans during a congressional hearing.
Anchor Bill Hemmer said, “There is a letter that’s been drafted apparently by the whistleblower, not made public. It has been shared with some members of the media. We have not seen it. Can you characterize the tenor of that letter by the whistleblower?”
Jordan said, “The whistleblower talks about what is in the email that went out to the FBI agents around the country telling them to put together this threat tag, put this label, this terrorist tag on parents. This email, bill, went out the day before Merrick Garland came in front of our committee, saying nothing of the sort is going on. He tells us that, testifies to that, tells the American people that at the same time, just 24 hours earlier, this email had been sent out. So the whistleblower walks through some of that in his letter, but it is just giving his belief about what this email tells FBI agents to do. ”
He added, “It sure looks like he misled the American people when he gave the answer that he did.”
During congressional testimony on October 21, Garland said, “I can’t imagine any circumstance in which the Patriot Act would be used in the circumstances of parents complaining about their children. Nor can I imagine a circumstance where they would be labeled as domestic terrorists.”
Hemmer asked, “Can you dispute that?”
Jordan said, “As he made that statement, the counter-terrorism division at the FBI was sending an email to FBI agents around the country saying put a threat tag on parents’ names. So that directly contradicts it. He can’t imagine using the Patriot Act. Then why was it the counter-terrorism division at the FBI who sent this email out to FBI agents? He’s got a lot of questions to answer.”
He added, “He needs to stop this in its tracks. He needs to stop tracking parents with whatever label, whatever they’ll call it. Stop tracking parents and stop giving them this label. This is what needs to happen. The American people understand it for what it is.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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