Jim Jordan Signals He Won’t Speak to Jan. 6 House Committee

(Bloomberg) -- Ohio Representative Jim Jordan indicated on Sunday night that he won’t voluntarily testify to the House Committee investigating the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, writing the inquiry isn’t “fair-minded and objective.”

The committee’s Dec. 22 request that he appear “is far outside the bounds of any legitimate inquiry, violates core Constitutional principles, and would serve to further erode legislative norms,” Jordan wrote in a letter to committee chairman, Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat.

Jordan is one of former President Donald Trump’s highest profile congressional allies and has publicly acknowledged talking on the phone with Trump on Jan. 6, as rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol building. He’s the second sitting Republican congressman known to be asked to voluntarily appear before the committee: Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican and Trump ally, previously called the request for him to be interviewed “illegitimate” and tweeted that he would refuse to do so.

Jordan didn’t address why the committee wants to interview him, Tim Mulvey, a committee spokesman, said in response to the letter.

“He spoke directly to President Trump on January 6th and is thus a material witness,” Mulvey said in a statement, and he “worked directly with President Trump and the Trump legal team to attempt to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 presidential election.”

The committee will respond to Jordan’s letter in greater detail in the coming days and will consider “appropriate next steps,” he added.

Jordan has on several occasions said he telephoned Trump on the day of the riot, but has been unclear about when exactly that conversation took place. “Even if I had information to share with the Select Committee, the actions and statements of Democrats in the House of Representatives show that you are not conducting a fair-minded and objective inquiry,” Jordan wrote in his letter to Thompson. 

Russell Dye, a Jordan spokesman, declined to elaborate on whether the top Republican of the House Judiciary Committee will speak to the Jan. 6 panel. “The letter speaks for itself,” Dye said. 

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