Democratic strategist Paul Begala said Thursday on CNN’s “The Lead” that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) was “getting pretty close to undermining the way constitutional order” while discussing his text to former chief of staff Mark Meadows to urge then-Vice President Mike Pence to discard electoral votes.
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “Jim Jordan forwarded this text sent from a former Pentagon inspector general to then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows the day before the insurrection it reads in part, ‘Vice President Pence should call out all electoral votes he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes, as all.’ What do you make of this?”
Begala said, “Congressman Jordan says there is more context, and we are entitled to that, and he is entitled to that. He should release it. It is his texts. My guess is he has access to his own texts. So he should tell us this, we should know everything. And I draw a big distinction between Fox News personalities, who, by the way, were saying the right thing in private, saying please make him stop the violence, and a congressman. A congressman swore an oath to the Constitution. Cable news talking heads don’t swear an oath to the Constitution. We hope they are loyal to it. Mr. Jordan took an oath to uphold the Constitution.”
He added, “I really do want to see the context. He might have said, ‘Hey, get this, isn’t this crazy?’ He is entitled to his whole defense. But he could offer it to us right now. Give us the context, Congressman Jordan, because that is getting pretty close to undermining the constitutional order here. By the way, not only throwing out electoral votes but the millions of votes of American citizens who cast them that determined those electoral votes.”
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