A new book by Politico’s Rachael Bade and The Washington Post’s Karoun Demirjian reveals that Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Mark Meadows (R-NC) built a plot to help save Donald Trump in his first impeachment hearing. Instead, Trump messed it all up.
In “Unchecked,” the new plot is revealed detailing Meadows and Jordan trying to prove that Trump's own appointees were liars and couldn't be trusted, described the Daily Beast, reporting on an advanced copy of the book.
By Oct. 2019, Jordan had heard Trump was going to send a raging letter refusing to turn over any documents and block testimony from any government witnesses. One morning, the House impeachment panel was going to interview Trump's U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, but Trump blocked the appearance. Jordan had no idea.
“When Jordan walked into the SCIF with [Steve] Castor and [Mark] Meadows on Tuesday, October 8, the morning of Sondland’s scheduled testimony, they were shocked to discover that the ambassador wasn’t there. Just before seven a.m., [White House counsel Pat] Cipollone—on Trump’s orders—had instructed State Department officials to stop the interview from going forward. No one, however, had bothered to give Trump’s top defenders on Capitol Hill a heads-up. And Jordan and Castor were not happy,” the excerpt published by the Beast reads.
The men knew that Sondland would have damaging info, so they planned to try and find Sondland lied. Once he lied about something, they could claim that nothing he said could be trusted.
“It was a brazen strategy that showed once again how House Republicans were more concerned about coming up with ways to protect their party leader than actually learning the truth of what occurred,” the book says. “But Sondland’s no-show had robbed them of a chance to test their new playbook."
Both Jordan and Trump failed.
“As Jordan exited the SCIF, reporters swarmed, demanding to know why the administration had blocked Sondland’s testimony. Perturbed as he was, Jordan swallowed his frustration and loyally defended the White House’s move as justified,” the book continues. “The administration ‘decided not to have Ambassador Sondland appear today’ because of an ‘unfair and partisan process that [Chairman Adam] Schiff has been running,’ Jordan argued. Democrats were just trying to smear Trump thirteen months before his reelection ‘based on an anonymous whistleblower with no firsthand knowledge who has a bias against the president,’ he continued. They should release [Kurt] Volker’s testimony and acknowledge there had been no quid pro quo.”
Jordan lied, saying that Republicans knew Sondland would "reinforce exactly what Ambassador Volker told us last week." The truth wasn't even close. They were well aware that Sondland was going to reveal a "quid pro quo" that was worthy of impeachment. Jordan deployed his own spin and then “raced up the marble spiral staircase, out of the Capitol, and into their waiting cars to speed across town and stage an intervention with Trump.”
To make matters worse, Trump was not only blocking Sondland, he was going to release the letter to Cipollone that demanded the probe be shut down. Republicans had spent the weekend trying to keep it from leaking out.
"Though members usually met Trump in the Oval Office alone, Jordan insisted Castor accompany them, hoping he could convince the president to allow administration witnesses to come forward," the book explains.
Jordan would likely be the Judiciary Committee Chairman if the GOP takes back Congress and the portrayal of Jordan basically serving as Trump's protector instead of doing his job isn't a flattering one. In another instance, Jordan was going to the White House to read the transcript of Trump's so-called "perfect call" with the new Ukrainian president. Jordan only got a partial account and didn't get to read the part in which Trump says, "I need you to do us a favor, though."
Jordan and the GOP staff also went through 53 messages from then-US envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, who communicated with State Department officials on WhatsApp about Trump withholding aid until Ukraine announced it was going after Joe Biden's son.
“Jordan knew the texts were bad,” the book reads. “But he relished a good fight, and he had already identified a failsafe in the missives: In one of them, Sondland had flatly refuted [Bill] Taylor’s suggestion that U.S. tax dollars were being used to help Trump’s reelection efforts, writing: ‘the president has been crystal clear no quid pro quo’s of any kind.’ Jordan knew that was the point he and his team would have to hit home over and over to protect the president. That, after all, was exactly how he viewed his job.”
In the middle of Volker's testimony, the GOP found the most flattering messages and leaked them to ABC News and Fox. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) released the full version.
He then got into a fight with Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), when she was still in the GOP leadership.
“‘You said Volker’s testimony was good for us!’ she said, demanding an explanation,” says the book. “‘What is up with these texts?’”
