Jordan, in a letter dated January 9, 2022, responded to the Select Committee with a series of accusations including the suggestion that the investigation was conducting “partisan witch hunts.”
Jordan added, “As you well know, I have no relevant information that would assist the Select Committee in advancing any legitimate legislative purpose.”
The Select Committee’s letter to Jordan identifies the latter as a material witness over communications he had with US President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021, and to answer questions about potential additional communications he held with the former US leader. In particular, the letter addressed Jordan’s role and knowledge of strategies to overturn the results of the 2020 US presidential election.
“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,” the letter reads.
Jordan’s four-page letter, containing numerous footnotes, does not directly address the Committee’s reasons for requesting his cooperation. Much of the letter instead contains critiques of Democrats and the Select Committee.
Jordan, in his response to the Select Committee, blasts House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for what he characterizes as her failure to adequately protect the Capitol, expands on his claim of a partisan witch hunt, and suggests, similar to others who have refused to cooperate with the Committee, that the investigation is a violation of the First Amendment protection of free speech.
Jordan does recount his whereabouts during the attack, but offers no insights into his communications with Trump before, during, and after the January 6 Capitol attack.
A spokesman for the Select Committee, Tim Mulvey, responded to Jordan’s letter.
“Mr. Jordan has admitted that he spoke directly to President Trump on Jan. 6 and is thus a material witness. Mr. Jordan’s letter to the committee fails to address these facts. Mr. Jordan has previously said that he would cooperate with the committee’s investigation, but it now appears that the Trump team has persuaded him to try to hide the facts and circumstances of Jan. 6,” Mulvey said.
In the coming days, the Select Committee is expected to respond to the letter in more detail. Thus far, the Committee has been wary to issue subpoenas to members of Congress but has not ruled out the practice.
Representative Jordan has long been a Trump-supporter, including after the end of the latter’s presidency. In a 2018 interview with Anderson Cooper, Jordan stated that he had never heard Trump lie.
Jordan called the protest of the 2019 Trump impeachment inquiry, in which approximately two dozen Republican lawmakers unsuccessfully stormed a closed-door deposition, justified.