January 6 Committee Wants to Interrogate Jim Jordan — After Rejecting Him as a Member

The United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack wrote Wednesday to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) asking him to testify about phone calls with then-president Donald Trump — after rejecting him as a member of the committee.

In a letter, the committee says that it believes Jordan spoke with Trump on January 6, and wants him to describe those calls, as well as any meetings he had with Trump and others to discuss strategies for “overturning” the January 6 election results:

We understand that you had at least one and possibly multiple communications with President Trump on January 6th. We would like to discuss each such communication with you in detail.4 And we also wish to inquire about 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.

Of course, the events on the day of January 6th are not our only focus. We also must learn about the activities that led to the attack on January 6th. Public reporting suggests that you may also have information about meetings with White House officials and the then-President in November and December 2020, and early-January 2021, about strategies for overturning the results of the 2020 election.5 We would also like to ask you about any discussions involving the possibility of presidential pardons for individuals involved in any aspect of January 6th or the planning for January 6th. When you were asked during a Rules Committee hearing on October 20, 2021, whether you would be willing to share with the Select Committee the information you have regarding January 6th and the events leading up to that day, you responded, “I’ve said all along, ‘I have nothing to hide.’ I’ve been straightforward all along.”

We would like to meet with you soon, but we also want to accommodate your schedule. We propose meeting with you on January 3rd or January 4th. Please let us know whether one of those dates will fit with your schedule. If you are unavailable on those dates, we can arrange a time during the week of January 10th. If it would be preferable to hold this meeting with you in your district, we would also be glad to explore travel arrangements to facilitate that option.

Earlier this year, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) took the unprecedented step of rejecting the five Republicans nominated by House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to serve on the committee. Instead, Pelosi chose two avowedly anti-Trump Republicans, Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL).

The enabling resolution for the committee requires there to be five Republicans, who are to be chosen after consultation with the House Minority Leader.

Pelosi’s exclusion of Jordan and the other nominees also meant there was no ranking minority member of the committee. Her decisions are being targeted by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in his lawsuit challenging the committee.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.