Rep. Jim Jordan is refusing a request to be interviewed by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, calling it an “unprecedented and inappropriate demand.”
“Your attempt to pry into the deliberative process informing a Member about legislative matters before the House is an outrageous abuse of the Select Committee’s authority,” Jordan wrote in the letter, which he posted to his Twitter account Sunday.
Jordan declined to comply with the Dec. 22 request to appear before the panel to discuss his communication with Trump on the day of the assault. Jordan previously said that he could not recall how many times he spoke with Trump on Jan. 6 but that they spoke at least once.
The panel is also seeking details of any communications Jordan had that day, or the previous day, with Trump’s legal team, White House staffers, members of the “war room” team that assembled at the Willard hotel ahead of the attack, and any other people “involved in organizing or planning the actions and strategies for January 6th.”
The request also specifies that Jordan may be able to provide details about meetings with Trump and White House officials in the weeks and months leading up to Jan. 6 about “strategies for overturning the results of the 2020 election.”
A spokesman for the committee said in a statement Monday that Jordan’s letter “fails to address the principal bases for the Select Committee’s request for a meeting, including that he worked directly with President Trump and the Trump legal team to attempt to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 presidential election.” The statement added: “Mr. Jordan has admitted that he spoke directly to President Trump on January 6th and is thus a material witness.”
The spokesman said the committee will respond in more detail to Jordan in the coming days. Jordan’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Last month, Jordan declined to say whether he took part in a Jan. 5 briefing with Phil Waldron, a retired U.S. Army colonel who was working with Trump’s outside lawyers. Waldron shared a 38-page PowerPoint presentation that outlined proposals to challenge the 2020 election.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) had sought to put Jordan, along with Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) on the select committee, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) prevented it, citing their “statements and actions” and the need to ensure “the integrity of the investigation.”
The committee has subpoenaed dozens of people, including prominent advisers to Trump, as part of its efforts to understand what led a pro-Trump mob to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6 in a bid to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory. Stephen K. Bannon and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows have declined to cooperate, and lawmakers have voted to find them in contempt of Congress.
However, the committee has sought sitting lawmakers’ voluntary collaboration, as its members examine whether they have the power to compel Republican members of Congress to testify. Thompson, the committee chairman, said on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Jan. 2 that if it was confirmed that the committee had the power to subpoena lawmakers, “there’ll be no reluctance on our part.”
Jordan is the second Republican lawmaker to reject the committee’s request. After Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) was asked on Dec. 20 to meet with the committee to discuss information it said tied him “to events surrounding January 6, including his involvement in efforts to install former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark as acting Attorney General,” Perry tweeted that he would not cooperate and called the committee “illegitimate.”
Last week, the select committee requested information from Fox News host Sean Hannity, who Thompson and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said had “advance knowledge regarding President Trump’s and his legal team’s planning for January 6.” The panel said Hannity also appeared to provide guidance and feedback “to the President and certain White House staff regarding that planning.”
Hannity’s attorney, Jay Sekulow, said in a statement that the committee’s request “would raise serious constitutional issues including First Amendment concerns regarding freedom of the press.”
Felicia Sonmez, Eugene Scott, Tom Hamburger and Jacqueline Alemany contributed to this report.
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