House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) is taking his dog and pony show to Manhattan today in an effort to curry favor with indicted former president Donald Trump, and he got one hell of a welcome from New Yorkers as his “field hearing” began.
Jordan claims the purpose of the hearing is to focus on crime in Manhattan and failures allegedly made by the borough’s district attorney, Alvin Bragg, who indicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records last month.
According to Punchbowl News correspondent Mica Soellner, Jordan was greeted by New Yorkers by calls for the Ohio Republican to be indicted for treason.
Protestors are trying to disrupt the @JudiciaryGOP’s hearing with signs calling to indict Jordan and calling him a “traitor.” There’s a lot of shouting now that can be heard from the hearing room. pic.twitter.com/xMivau7WQk
The hearing could also wind up being humiliating for Jordan in other ways, according to political analyst Matthew Dowd, who said Sunday during an appearance on MSNBC:
“If he really wanted to find out answers to the unanswered questions about crime, then hold it on the Ohio State University campus and ask about the sexual abuse scandals that occurred while he was the wrestling coach. That would be a more formal and more interesting thing to find out undiscovered information.”
When he brings down the gavel Monday for a House Judiciary Committee hearing being held on the topic of crime in Manhattan, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) may wish he had never conceived of what is clearly a publicity stunt, according to a political analyst.
Matthew Dowd told MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin on Sunday morning that as Jordan continues his accusations against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for what he calls his “pro-crime, anti-victim policies,” the congressman had better expect his own sordid past to be fair game for Democrats on the committee.
Specifically, Dowd noted, is the lingering questions about Jordan’s involvement in the sexual assault of wrestlers at Ohio State University while he was a coach of the team. Jordan never reported any of the attacks on student-athletes.
“The facts is, not only does Columbus have three times the crime rate that New York City has, the actual hometown and where Jim Jordan is from has a higher crime rate a small town has a higher crime rate than New York City in the course that eight of the top ten crime rate states in America are red states,” Dowd began.
That led to Dowd referencing Jordan’s past:
“And, the other thing, I’ll just add: if he really wanted to find out answers to the unanswered questions about crime, then hold it on the Ohio State University campus and ask about the sexual abuse scandals that occurred while he was the wrestling coach. That would be a more formal and more interesting thing to find out undiscovered information.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jm0HiRXBhc&t=1s
Monday’s hearing should be fascinating in all sorts of ways.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has scheduled a hearing on crime in the city of Manhattan for next Monday, April 17 as part of spotlighting what Jordan claims are the “victims” of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who indicted failed former president Donald Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records last month.
But the hearing may wind up turning into a massive public relations nightmare for Jordan, according to Greg Sargent of The Washington Post.
The emerging details are already shining a harsh light on what you might call the ‘governing by Fox News’ problem, in which Republicans use committee hearings to create right-wing media boomlets but ultimately run into the buzzsaw of outside scrutiny, Sargent reports.
Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY), who sits on the committee chaired by Jordan, says he’s looking forward to the “field hearing” planned by the chairman.
“We are eager to use this as an opportunity to highlight what is the real pressing issue in terms of public safety around the country. And that’s the prevalence of assault weapons.”
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, Sargent adds. Others Democrats on the committee are also planning to give Jordan a humiliating fact-check to counter his bullshit.
Committee Democrats, led by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), also plan to push back against lurid and widely debunked GOP claims about Bragg, New York City and crime. Among these claims: Bragg didn’t prosecute an alleged murder on the subway (he did); crime in Manhattan is at record highs (that’s nonsense); Bragg is a wholly owned puppet of George Soros (that’s pure fantasy talk); and the judge hearing Trump’s case is a Trump-hater (even Trump’s own lawyer won’t say this).
And there will also be plenty of facts presented by Democrats that tie House Republicans to Trump, serving as a taxpayer-funded “Trump legal team,” according to Congressman Goldman.
“It’s an opportunity for the public to learn exactly the degree of coordination and collusion between House Republican leadership and Donald Trump.”
It should be fun to watch as Jordan loses his temper and proves that he’s nothing more than a whore for Trump and the most extremist elements of the GOP. Grab your popcorn and settle in for a show.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg made it clear Tuesday that he’s sick and tired of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) attempting to interfere with his prosecution of failed, one-term former president Donald Trump.
Bragg has filed a lawsuit against Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and is requesting that a court block Jordan’s congressional investigation until the Trump case is completed.
Calling it an “unprecedently brazen and unconstitutional attack” of an ongoing investigation, Bragg in the suit filed Tuesday said allowing Jordan’s demands, including subpoenaing former assistant DA employee Mark Pomerantz, would cause “imminent irreparable harm if the secret and privileged material is compelled to be disclosed.”
Bragg’s suit asks the court to block a subpoena issued by Jordan to Pomerantz. Jordan, R-Ohio, wants Pomerantz to sit for a deposition as part of the Judiciary panel’s investigation into the indictment of Trump. The former president pleaded not guilty last week to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to his alleged role in hush money payments toward the end of his 2016 presidential campaign.
Bragg released a statement shortly after the suit was filed.
“Chairman Jordan’s subpoena is an unconstitutional attempt to undermine an ongoing New York felony criminal prosecution and investigation. As our complaint details, this is an unprecedented, illegitimate interference by Congress that lacks any legal merit and defies basic principles of federalism.”
On Monday, Jordan announced that the Judiciary Committee would be holding a “field hearing” in New York next week to discuss the issue of crime in Manhattan. However, that hearing may be placed on hold if a judge blocks the Ohio Republican from interfering in an ongoing criminal matter.
Since Trump was indicted in March, Congressional Republicans have repeatedly tried to interfere in Bragg’s case against the disgraced ex-president. Some have even suggested that all federal funding to New York should be cut off if the Manhattan DA doesn’t drop the charges against Trump.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) will soon be chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and a former GOP adviser has some advice for him: Shut the hell up.
Tara Setmayer made her remarks during an appearance on MSNBC Sunday, telling host Jonathan Capehart:
“I want to remind people who Jim Jordan is. Jim Jordan is potentially under investigation by the Department of Justice. He is now about to become the chairman of the Judiciary Committee which has direct oversight of the Department of Justice; there’s something incredibly wrong with that.”
Setmayer added:
“Jim Jordan was an insurrectionist. He was one the people in those backdoor deals with Rudy Giuliani and all those others to overturn the fair election in this country. He now has the power of the gavel, of the oversight committee for the Department of Justice. This is what people have voted into power.”
But that was just the beginning of what Setmayer had to say about Jordan and his GOP allies who are about to take control of the House:
“I think it is a responsibility for all of us who have a platform to remind the American people that elections have consequences. We cannot ignore the role that they played in almost losing our democracy on January sixth, they should all be held accountable and asked questions about.”
Setmayer said she has one message for Jordan, and she wishes he would heed her instructions:
“Jim Jordan really needs to shut the hell up with the righteous indignation about anything. Because he has not been held accountable for his own transgressions and I think that they should come sooner rather than later.”