Despite the fact that he’s personally compromised on any number of fronts (not the least of which is his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is about to crank up all sorts of hearings in the House of Representatives targeting the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Attorney General Merrick Garland.
As recently as last August, Jordan even suggested he might want to impeach Garland, telling Newsmax host Rob Schmitt:
“I think everything is on the table, we have got to take our message to the American people and not get overconfident but campaign in a confident way, win back the majority.”
And now Jordan wants to open hearings regarding the “weaponization” of the DOJ in the Biden administration, even though the main reason he’s doing so is to satisfy right-wingers and former president Donald Trump, who still has his panties in a wad as a result of the FBI serving a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago for classified documents he was told by a court to turn over.
But as Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post notes, Democrats on the committees can turn the tables on Jordan and his GOP allies.
How? Consider Rubin’s excellent op-ed in which she lays out these points:
Put Republicans under the Microscope
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), for example, had his phone seized by the FBI last year as part of its investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Perry says he was told he’s not a target of the investigation, but it’s clear he played a key role in the ploy to install then-Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark as acting attorney general. The warrant for his phone also indicates that there was probable cause that a crime had been committed and that there was evidence on his phone.
Perry now wants to serve on the very committee that will investigate the DOJ even though he is personally under investigation by that same agency.
Use the panel to continue the Jan. 6 committee’s work
As I’ve argued, the Jan. 6 committee never got to the bottom of the FBI’s failure to operationalize intelligence about violence at the U.S. Capitol. Nor did the committee uncover why the Pentagon failed to promptly authorize mobilization of the National Guard or why messages from the U.S. Secret Service from that day were apparently erased. Democrats should press for answers on those questions. They should also seek testimony under oath from key officials, such as former acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller.
Exploit the GOP’s argument against congressional oversight
This would turn Jordan and the GOP’s bizarro logic on its head, and it would also serve to point out the blatant hypocrisy of Republicans.
Now, Democrats can use Republicans’ argument against them. MAGA inquisitors have left little doubt that the sole purpose of the committee is to skewer prosecutors, meddle in ongoing criminal matters and protect Trump. This blatantly violates separation of powers, constituting its own politicization. Therefore, any subpoena of information from the Justice Department’s investigations can and should be challenged not only for violating separation of powers but also for absence of a legitimate legislative purpose.
It’ll be fun to watch Jordan if and when any of these tactics are used by Democrats. And if they really want to push Jimbo’s buttons, they should also ask him what he knew and when it knew it about the rape of wrestlers on the team he served as an assistant coach for at Ohio State University and his possible involvement in the Capitol insurrection.
If Jim Jordan wants “transparency,” let’s see just how transparent he’s willing to be.
