Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is furious that Hunter Biden is refusing to comply with a subpoena from his committee for testimony as part of the GOP’s impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
On Wednesday, Jordan posted this on Twitter/X:
What's President Biden's role in Hunter's obstruction of Congress?
That’s pretty rich (not to mention incredibly hypocritical) considering that Jordan himself obstructed Congress by refusing to testify before the House Select Committee that investigated the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The committee subpoenaed Jordan, but he has yet to sit for a sworn deposition.
It didn’t take long before Jordan was relentlessly mocked and reminded of his own history as a scofflaw.
Hunter Biden showed up to testify
You did not
Do you think this is winning Republicans new voters? No, you're just doing what your cult leader tells you to do – wimps
Republicans in Congress are biggest collection of cowards in US history
The way I see it, Jim Jordan is the only question you should be answering right now is why you have not honored your subpoena from the January 6 committee and here you are condemning Hunter Biden because he hasn’t honored his. Two sets of rules, one for corrupt MAGA Republicans…
What's Congressman Jim Jordan's role in w Weak Donald Trump's attempt to overthrow the government on 1/6/21? Why on Earth would Jordan ask for a preemptive pardon from Weak Donald????
The House Judiciary Committee was in session recently, and it’s safe to bet that its chairman, Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, probably wishes it hadn’t been, because he got called out for his hypocrisy and humiliated by committee member Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA).
During the hearing, Jordan issued subpoenas in connection with an investigation he and Republicans on the committee are conducting into the Department of Justice and FBI, both of which they claim have been “weaponized” since Joe Biden became president, as Axios reported earlier this week.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) — facing criticism that his probe of alleged mistreatment of conservatives by “weaponized” U.S. agencies has moved too slowly and found little — is threatening to subpoena 16 more witnesses from the FBI.
Swalwell told Ben Cline (R-VA) of the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Responsiveness and Accountability To Oversight that he found it incredibly ironic Jordan would dare to issue subpoenas when the Ohio Republican had refused to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
“I think it’s quite rich that we are talking about subpoena compliance under a chairman of the full committee who was absolutely out of subpoena compliance in the last congress.”
The California Democrat was just getting warmed up, however, adding, “So we’re gonna call witnesses in here today and claim that they did not comply with subpoenas or requests, and that request is so rich because it’s coming from a chairman who himself did not comply with the January six committees request.”
Directing his next comments directly at Jordan, Swalwell continued.
“You were a witness to a crime. You were a witness to the greatest crime ever committed with the most criminals ever indicted in America. Will you help your country? Will you comply with that subpoena?
“No compliance. Crickets. Absolute defiance of a subpoena. And because of that defiance, the chairman was referred – and still pending – to the House Ethics Committee.”
Swawell ended his comments with this flourish:
“So this our chairman, hauling all us here, everyone here today. People at the Department of Justice, the Department of Education – who are doing important work – to claim they are out of compliance when he himself is currently out of compliance.”
Swalwell: I think that it is quite rich that we are talking about subpoena compliance under a chairman of the full committee who was absolutely out of subpoena compliance in the last congress.. *shows Jim Jordan subpoena* pic.twitter.com/ooSDdU5Q0T
It really is slam dunk after slam dunk for the Democrats against these GOP morons and their petty "revenge" committees.
Are they THAT fkn stupid they couldn't foresee that their own non-compliance in the last two years would bite them in the ass every which way they turn?
Thank you Rep Swalwell! @Jim_Jordan Compliance Committee, put together by GOP has not only Jim Jordan, Chairman out of compliance but many more GOP Congress members. This is a JOKE @HouseGOP@SpeakerMcCarthy
The latest subpoenas from Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith for members of disgraced former president Donald Trump’s legal team should have those close to Trump very worried, according to a former federal prosecutor.
Glenn Kirschner spoke with MSNBC’s Yasmin Vossoughian Sunday afternoon and was asked about the fact that it now appears members of Trump’s legal team are becoming witnesses.
“It’s highly unusual, but it’s not unprecedented,” Kirschner noted. “There are times when prosecutors will investigate the mafia, mob organizations, and they will get to a point in the investigation when it looks like the attorneys representing the mobsters, the targets of the investigation, are complicit in the crimes of the organization and prosecutors do go after mob lawyers.”
Trump attorney Evan Corcoran is now being put under the microscope by the special counsel because he may have been part of the crimes committed by the former president, and means the crime-fraud exception would apply and invalidate attorney-client privilege.
“I think everyone is worried on Team Trump,” Kirschner explained. “I don’t fully understand why Mike Pence is unwilling to stand up for the people of the United States of America and talk about, for example, the pressure campaign that Donald Trump waged against him to get him to commit federal crimes. To violate the Electoral Count Act on Jan. 6 and obstruct Congress’ official proceeding certifying Joe Biden’s win. Mike Pence seems comfortable talking about it publicly when he’s trying to profit off of his book.”
In the long run, Kirschner predicted, Pence testify before Smith’s grand jury:
“I think Mike Pence will testify at the end of the day. There are several reasons why the executive privilege fails, and I also think the speech or debate clause privilege fails because no matter how you cut it, Mike Pence is not a legislator, and he wasn’t engaged in robust debate about legislation. So I think all privileges will fail, and Mike Pence will find himself inside the grand jury.”
J. Michael Luttig is a conservative former federal judge who is widely respected in legal circles, and he has a stark warning for former Vice President Mike Pence: Your attempt to get out of a subpoena from Special Counsel Jack Smith is likely to backfire on you.
Writing in a New York Times op-ed, Luttig notes that Pence has vowed to take his appeal of Smith’s subpoena “all the way to the Supreme Court,” and offers this advice to the ex-VP:
“A politician should be careful what he wishes for — no more so than when he’s a possible presidential candidate who would have the Supreme Court decide a constitutional case that could undermine his viability in an upcoming campaign.”
The op-ed from Luttig comes just days after he made the same argument on Twitter, laying out the nightmare scenario which could soon face Pence if he does indeed decided that he will continue to fight Smith’s subpoena.
“It is an unsettled question of constitutional law whether a Vice President of the United States possesses qualified Speech or Debate Clause privileges and protections when he or she serves, in accordance with the Twelfth Amendment, as President of the Senate”
Luttig then followed up with a series of postings in which he ripped apart the shaky legal footing Pence was claiming as a way of avoiding having to testify.
during the Joint Session of Congress in which the electoral votes for the President and Vice President of the United States are counted.
reflecting the relatively — and comparatively — few circumstances in which there would be constitutionally legitimate need, reasons, and justification for such privileges and protections.
This is so, because a Vice President performs an essentially ceremonial role during the actual counting of the electoral votes during the Joint Session,
and he or she performs an essentially ministerial role when presiding over the Joint Session in circumstances in which the next President is not determined by the initial counting of the votes transmitted to Congress.
And in both roles, the Vice President is constitutionally serving independently of the United States Senate and House of Representatives, the incumbent President, and the President-elect and Vice President-elect, if they are not the incumbent President and Vice President.
If there are privileges and protections enjoyed by a Vice President when he or she serves as the President of the Senate during the Joint Session to count the electoral votes, those privileges and protections would yield to the demands of criminal process
as — if not sooner than — do the Speech or Debate Clause privileges and protections for Senators and Representatives, and the Executive Privilege for Presidents of the United States.
Pence will not prevail with his legal shenanigans, Luttig concludes, reminding the the former vice president that the longer he draws out the matter, the worse the timing will be for him and his possible political future:
“Mr. Pence may also be under the impression that the legal fight over his claim will confound the courts, consuming months, if not longer, before he receives the verdict — but it’s unclear what he hopes to gain from the delay. One would have thought Mr. Pence would have seized the propitious opportunity afforded him by Mr. Smith, most likely weeks or months before he even decides whether he will run for the presidency.”
Will Pence heed Luttig’s advice? Considering his slavish devotion to the failed ex-president, it seems unlikely.
Former Vice President Mike Pence has decided that he will not comply with a subpoena from Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating efforts by ex-president Donald Trump to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
CNN reports that Pence will say the subpoena cannot be enforced because he was president of the Senate and is therefore immune from questions about his official duties in that capacity.
Pence is expected to address the subpoena and his response to it during a trip to Iowa on Wednesday, according to a source familiar with his plans. Hisdecision to fight the subpoena comes as the former vice president is mulling a 2024 presidential bid.
Pence has been subpoenaed by Jack Smith, the special counsel investigating Trump and his role in January 6, 2021, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. Smith’s office is seeking documents and testimony, the source said. Investigators want the former vice president to testify about his interactions with Trump leading up to the 2020 election and the day of the attack on the US Capitol.
What Pence is actually doing, however, is trying to have it both ways. He wants to pretend that he has scruples while at the same time refusing to say anything that might harm his former political patron, the disgraced former president who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Pence is also expected to be a contender for the Republican nomination, though he has yet to announce his intentions.
Dennis Aftergut and Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe put Pence’s refusal to comply with the special counsel’s subpoena this way:
His purpose is transparent. It’s not to protect our legal institutions but to protect himself and his ambition to run for the White House. He knows that courts have consistently shot down claims of separation of powers and executive privilege in the context of attempts by Trump to shield his role in Jan. 6 and the events leading up to it. So Pence now makes a novel, if legally frivolous claim.
But by far the best response to what Pence is expected to do came from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who noted:
“Pence is now claiming the Speech and Debate Clause — meant for senators and members — allows him to avoid testifying about Jan 6.
“Just shows the lengths Pence will go to avoid doing his duty and telling the truth.
“What a way to launch a presidential campaign.”
Pence is now claiming the Speech and Debate Clause — meant for senators and members — allows him to avoid testifying about Jan 6.
Just shows the lengths Pence will go to avoid doing his duty and telling the truth.
