Thursday, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) reacted to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, his former House Freedom Caucus colleague, efforts to take on the January 6 Commission through the federal courts.
The Ohio Republican laid out why executive privilege was sacred and argued Meadows’ efforts were justified during an appearance on FNC’s “Fox News @ Night.”
“Shannon, the National Security Adviser, the White House counsel and the Chief of Staff are the three positions, three individuals who have the closest relationship with the President of the United States,” Jordan said. “I would argue the Chief of Staff is the closest. And Mark Meadows still was willing to come in. Even with that special privilege we’ve recognized in this country for decades and decades, he was willing to come in and answer questions, willing to accommodate and work with them, but they said, no, no, no, you got to answer all questions. Not just questions that wouldn’t violate executive privilege but all questions. You got to answer every single thing we asked you, and Mark says, no, I can’t do that.”
“There’s an executive privilege that is important for how the Executive Branch, how the Commander in Chief, how the President of the United States operates, not just President Trump, but all Presidents throughout all of our history and that wasn’t good enough for him,” he continued. “So I think this underscores how political this Committee is. Remember, they wouldn’t let the Republican leader put on the members he wanted to put on, never happened in the history of the House of Representatives. So this is — this is no different than when Adam Schiff ran in the bunker in the basement of the Capitol, his partisan political hatchet job to impeachment proceedings, that’s what this is here as well.”
“And Mark was right to fight back,” Jordan added. “He’s a good man, he did nothing wrong, but he had to take this action. He tried to work with them they weren’t willing to do it.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor