Jim Jordan says he spoke to ex-President Trump on Jan. 6, the day of the Capitol riot,
Congressman could be asked to testify before panel probing riot.
Champaign WASHINGTON, D.C. — County GOP Rep. Jim Jordan said Tuesday he spoke with then-President Donald Trump on the day that rampaging Trump supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol, boosting the chance that Jordan will be asked to testify before a newly established House of Representatives subcommittee probing the riot.
In a Tuesday evening Fox News interview, Jordan told Brett Baier he has spoken to Trump “countless times,” including the day of the riot. He would not tell Baier what they talked about, saying he never reveals the contents of those discussions because “I just don’t think that’s appropriate.” Jordan’s press office did not respond to a request for more information on Jordan’s Jan. 6 conversation with Trump.
When Baier asked if Jordan could share any insight on what Trump was thinking that day, Jordan responded by telling him “the people we need to come testify are the people who can testify to the fundamental question: why didn’t the United States Capitol, the people’s house, have an appropriate security posture on that day?”
He asserted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office knew the security posture, and hypothesized that Pelosi declined House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy’s request to put Jordan and Indiana GOP Rep. Jim Banks on the investigative committee because the pair wanted to pursue that line of questioning. Pelosi is not in charge of Capitol Police, which are overseen by the Capitol Police Board and committees in the U.S. House and Senate that allot funding.
“The main reason Democrats want to keep talking about January 6th, because what the heck else are they going to talk about?” Jordan continued.
Earlier Tuesday, one of the two Republicans Pelosi put on the committee — Wyoming’s Liz Cheney — told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos she believes Jordan “may well be a material witness” who could be called to testify before the committee.
“He’s somebody who was involved in a number of meetings in the lead-up to what happened on Jan. 6, involved in planning for Jan. 6, certainly for the objections that day as he has said publicly, so he may well be a material witness,” said Cheney.
She also said subpoenas are possible for Trump and McCarthy.
“The committee will go wherever we need to go to get the facts,” said Cheney.
Before Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, vandalizing the building and halting congressional proceedings, Jordan led a group of Republican Congress members who objected to counting Arizona’s electoral votes. Jordan wanted to object to counting the electoral votes in six states the Trump campaign disputed, even though courts throughout the country had rejected their legal challenges as baseless.
After the riot stopped congressional debate, Jordan posted a statement on Twitter that said: “Stop the violence. Support Capitol
Police.” He followed up with another that said: “Americans support peaceful protests, First Amendment activity, and the men and women of law enforcement. What happened today is wrong.”
Jordan did not hold Trump responsible for the riot. And when Capitol Police had cleared the building and Congress was able to reconvene, Jordan voted against accepting electoral votes from the disputed states, but did not speak again on the House of Representatives floor.
The committee investigating the riot conducted its first hearing Tuesday, calling four police officers to testify about the day’s events.
D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone expressed frustration that so many of his fellow citizens, as well as Congress members he fought to defend, “are downplaying or outright denying what happened.”