All posts tagged "jim jordan"

Jim Jordan tells Fox News Trump just threw GOP victory in doubt: 'It's a standoff'

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan went on Fox News to warn that a key national security law is heading toward expiration Friday — and acknowledged that his own side may not be able to stop it.

FISA Section 702, which Jordan described as responsible for more than 50 percent of the nation's most sensitive intelligence, is set to expire this week. Democrats are blocking reauthorization unless President Trump removes Bill Pulte from his role as Acting Director of National Intelligence. Jordan admitted to host Maria Bartiromo the two sides are at an impasse.

"It's a standoff," Jordan said.

Pulte, who simultaneously serves as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, was installed as Acting DNI by Trump over Democratic objections that he lacks an intelligence background. Democrats have made his removal a condition for their votes on reauthorization.

Jordan framed the Democratic position as political obstruction. "They're using this as leverage," he said. "This is typical Washington games. They want to play politics with national security."

He defended Pulte as someone Trump trusts "to get the intelligence community back on track and focused on real threats, not going after conservatives or political opponents."

But with the deadline days away and no deal in sight, Jordan's own description of the situation — a standoff — raises the possibility that a surveillance program Republicans have repeatedly called indispensable to national security could lapse because of a personnel dispute of the administration's own making.

pic.twitter.com/q2QFsy4Z1Q
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) June 9, 2026

'Oh my God Jesus!' Jasmine Crockett explodes on GOP witnesses

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) lit into Republican witnesses at a House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, erupting in frustration after struggling to get three GOP-invited witnesses to acknowledge that the Proud Boys and Neo-Nazis are white supremacist organizations.

The fireworks came during a hearing Republicans titled "The Southern Poverty Law Center: Manufacturing Hate," a session convened by Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) in the wake of a federal indictment against the civil rights organization.

Crockett opened her questioning by asking the full panel point-blank whether the Proud Boys were a white supremacist organization. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said he wasn't "on their mailing list." Tyler O'Neil of The Daily Signal flatly said no. Dr. Carol Swain said she hadn't "read a description" of how they define themselves.

Crockett was visibly exasperated.

"Oh, it just seemed like you were saying because you haven't received their mail, you've only received the mail of white supremacists," she shot at Perkins.

She moved on to Neo-Nazis, but that didn't go any smoother. Perkins pivoted to antisemitism and began invoking Rep. Jerry Nadler before Crockett cut him off — "Reclaiming my time!" — until he finally conceded the point.

"Thank God! Jesus Christ! I didn't think we were gonna get there!" she exclaimed.

Then she let loose.

"Let me be clear: Proud Boys are white supremacists! Neo-Nazis are too! And this president, who loves to coddle white supremacists, has decided that they should be given checks," Crockett said, referencing Trump's pardons of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders convicted of seditious conspiracy for their roles in Jan. 6.

"How dare this majority sit here and try to lecture this organization about money!" Crockett continued, turning the hearing's premise on its head. "They either entered pleas of guilty or they were found guilty. And this president, on day one, his priority was not around racism. It was around doing things like letting them go and now putting money in their pockets."

Crockett then rattled off names of victims — Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, the nine worshippers murdered at Mother Emanuel AME Church, the 23 killed at an El Paso Walmart in 2019, and the 10 killed at a Buffalo grocery store in 2022 — and blamed Republican rhetoric directly.

"All of these were murdered by white supremacists who were empowered by the Republican Party's racist rhetoric and policies!" she said.

She closed by going after Republican efforts to restrict voting and limit history education in schools. "Some of y'all need to read your history books — the very same ones that Republicans have decided people should not hear about!"

When her time expired, Jordan interjected: "Well, you can't yield — you've run out of time."

'That dog ain't gonna hunt': GOP strategist warns Jim Jordan's spin won't fly with voters

A Republican strategist doubted that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) would be able to settle down voters upset with high gas prices with the latest GOP talking point.

After Jordan told CNN on Thursday night that gas prices don't matter as much as Iran's nuclear capabilities, Republican strategist Melik Abdul reacted to the clip by saying "that dog ain't gonna hunt."

Republicans "can continue to say that over and over again." Abdul warned that "how people feel is how they vote," and voters are more worried about the price at the gas pump.

"They're going to go to the polls, not on Iran. They're going to go to the polls on gas prices, food prices, and all of these other things," Abdul explained. "Republicans have to understand it doesn't matter what's happening in Iran. It doesn't matter what you're doing with DEI and suing all of these schools. People care about their pocketbooks."

The exchange comes amid mounting Republican anxiety over the political fallout from the Iran war, which has pushed average U.S. gas prices above $4.50 per gallon, up from under $3 before the conflict began in February. Trump campaigned in 2024 on bringing gas prices below $2 a gallon.

During that same interview, CNN's Kaitlan Collins reminded Jordan he had been "critical when gas was $3.07, when President Biden was in office" and asked, "If you thought that was bad, what is $4.53?"

Jordan replied that "gas prices were coming down until we had to deal with this situation" in Iran, before adding, "But you know, that's life, that's dealing with the world and the world we live in."

When Collins pressed him on Trump's 2024 campaign promise to bring gas prices under $2 a gallon, Jordan said, "Hopefully, we'll get there soon. I want — I want gas prices low, too. I mean, we all want gas prices low. Who doesn't, for goodness sake?"

Moments later, when Collins repeated his "that's life" line back to him, Jordan tried to walk it back, telling her, "Those are your words, not mine" — even though he had said exactly that less than a minute earlier.

'Come on': Jim Jordan gets snippy that Moms for Liberty dubbed hate group

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) was frustrated during a liveCNN broadcast on Tuesday after he was questioned about a MAGA political operation after a prominent nonprofit pushed back on an indictment from the Trump administration.

Jordan was speaking with CNN anchor Phil Mattingly when the conversation got heated over mention that Moms for Liberty was considered to have ties with groups designated as hate or extremist by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has been accused by President Donald Trump's Department of Justice's of wire and bank fraud. In a court filing on Tuesday, SPLC said that the FBI was aware that the organization had utilized their source information.

"Come on, Phil," Jordan said. "They're running a $3 million scam, right? They were they were telling their donors, oh, 'These hate groups are so terrible. Send us a bunch of money.' Meanwhile, they were paying people in the hate groups to foment the hate. $3 million over an eight year, 8 or 9 year period of time. It's like, that's unbelievable."

Jordan, who claimed that the FBI had only worked with the nonprofit during the Biden administration, continued to accuse the group of wrongdoing.

"Here's a question I have because the FBI used the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Biden FBI used the Southern Poverty Law Center to train lawyers at the DOJ and people in the FBI," Jordan said. "I want to know were any of the confidential sources the FBI was paying, was the Southern Poverty Law Center paying them too? Were these guys double dipping while the Southern Poverty Law Center is scamming their donors like this is. This is ridiculous because they put themselves out there as the standard."

He appeared annoyed that the SPLC had designated the right-wing Moms for Liberty group as a having connections to extremist groups and mocked the findings.

"We evaluate what group is a hate group, what Moms for Liberty is an extremist group," Jordan said of SPLC. "Family research Council's a hate group. You got to be kidding me. And they were scamming this thing."

He claimed that the nonprofit did not use informants and instead called them "instigators."

"And that's why they got indicted last week," he added. "And God bless Attorney General [Todd] Blanche for doing it."

Jordan had sent a letter last week and said a hearing would be upcoming in the next month.

CNN anchor cuts off Jim Jordan as exchange gets testy: 'No one's talking about that'

CNN anchor Kasie Hunt was noticeably annoyed by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) during a fiery interview Thursday.

Hunt was asking Jordan to comment on the U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran and the Trump administration's objectives and rising gas prices when the conversation got heated.

"Well, I don't know for sure but look, we want all the above," Jordan said. "We want low gas prices. We want Iran not to have nuclear capability, and we want this thing resolved as soon as possible. But I think the American people have common sense and they understand to stop this regime that for 47 years has killed Americans, killed Israelis, killed others, and killed a number of their own people to stop them from getting a nuclear weapon is a worthwhile objective. And President Trump is committed to achieving that goal. And if that means prices go up for a short time, I think Americans understand. We can live with that. But in the end, we want all that to happen and we want it all to happen in in as quick as time as it possibly can."

Hunt then pushed back on Jordan's claims.

"So you say we should be willing to live with higher prices," Hunt said. "Would you say to your constituents in Ohio this is worth sending their sons and daughters to the Middle East potentially to put their lives on the line, to achieve what you just laid out?"

Jordan appeared frustrated by Hunt's question.

"Do we want this regime and all they have done, the killing of American servicemen over the last 47 years, the killing of Israelis, the killing of others, the taking of thousands of lives of their own? Do we want them to have a nuclear weapon?" Jordan responded. "I think the Americans say that is something we need to stop."

Hunt pushed back again, cutting off Jordan and asking if it was necessary to put American troops on the ground in Iran to stop the regime.

"We need, again - no one's talking about that," Jordan said. "What they're talking about is, is it reaching the objective of making sure this regime doesn't get nuclear capability?"

"So how far would you go to achieve that objective?" Hunt asked.

Jim Jordan called out by GOP strategist for failing to control 'disgraceful' sideshow

A former GOP staffer and current conservative communications strategist went after Pam Bondi on Saturday, and at the same time noted Jim Jordan's failure to rein her in.

Maura Gillespie, who worked for Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and former Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), appeared on MS NOW over the weekend, where she was asked about why many GOP figures have criticized Bondi's recent performance at a hearing before lawmakers.

Gillespie joined in that chorus of conservative voices, saying there's no way to undo the damage Bondi has done. Gillespie accused Bondi of being disrespectful to lawmakers and of "bowing down" to Trump.

She then went on to put pressure on Jordan himself.

"That was a sham of a hearing and I do think Jim Jordan did not do justice to his committee by not holding her more accountable because her outbursts were truly... disgraceful," she said. "And it brings shame not only to the position that she holds, but also the people who work there. I also found that her not willing to turn around and face the victims themselves was particularly egregious, and really just made me wonder what the point was entirely of her even being there, because her entire career, she has just embarrassed herself now because she says she ran to hold, you know, criminals accountable and to bring justice to victims, and she wouldn't even face them."

Pam Bondi hearing erupts into shouting: 'She's embarrassing you!'

A hearing with lawmakers and Attorney General Pam Bondi erupted into an explosive shouting match Wednesday.

Bondi was testifying before lawmakers at a House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Capitol Hill when the tensions heightened, as she started shouting insults, name-calling and interrupting congressional members asking her questions under oath. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) pushed Bondi to respond to the Department of Justice's investigation of late convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and argued that the she and the DOJ had not apologized or acknowledged the survivors whose personal information was unredacted.

"Your'e obsessed with Donald Trump. You have Trump derangement syndrome," Bondi claimed.

Raskin pushed back on Bondi's statement and focused again on Epstein survivors and brought up that Bondi was avoiding responding to lawmakers' questions and not adhering to committee rules.

"I want the whole country to look at this, because this is the attorney general of the United States whose job is law enforcement," Raskin said. "We've never had a witness who has misunderstood our rules and been unable to conform his or her conduct to our rules before. We have only five minutes. And so we use our time to ask you specific questions."

"How long are you giving me to answer?" Bondi interrupted.

"Excuse me? I'm not yielding to you right now," Raskin said. "I'd like that second restored to. So, Miss Bondi, the way it works is we ask you a question and you answer it. And if you go off on a wild goose chase, another tangent. You start reading statistics or you start talking about stuff going on our district. And by the way, I invite you to my district, come to my district. But that's not what we're here to do today. OK. So and you do that, then we're allowed to say we reclaim our time. At that point, you have to be quiet. You have no choice. You have to be quiet."

Raskin demanded a joint task force to investigate the crimes against survivors of Epstein. That's when Bondi started discussing another topic and interrupting again.

Raskin responded to Bondi's remarks and directed his comments to chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).

"This is your committee, and she is embarrassing you," Raskin said.

Jack Smith gets warning GOP has set a trap

A legal expert Thursday revealed how former Special Counsel Jack Smith's testimony on his investigations into President Donald Trump could open him up to perjury charges.

CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez described why Smith was pausing before answering each question during his first public testimony with the House Judiciary Committee.

"There's a perjury trap over this entire hearing," Perez said. "They are watching every single word, and he is, I think he is weighing every single word. He cannot diverge from his previous testimony, he did a deposition in December, and I think he's trying to be careful and that's what you're seeing, the tentativeness at the beginning. It's pretty clear he's comfortable with what he did and he still believes that he would do it again."

Smith was speaking on his decision to prosecute Trump on a series of federal crimes in 2023. He wasted no time declaring that Trump "broke the law" at a congressional hearing Thursday.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chair of the committee, delivered a scathing opening statement, accusing Smith of acting under "politics" and complaining about “stolen phone records."

“We’re going to hear a lot of yelling and screaming from the other side," Jordan claimed before the testimony.

Smith, a career federal prosecutor, was appointed as a special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 to investigate Trump's handling of classified documents and his role in the events surrounding the Insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.

Smith led high-profile criminal investigations and prosecutions against Trump on multiple counts, including obstruction of justice and violations of the Espionage Act related to classified materials at Mar-a-Lago, though the cases faced significant legal challenges and delays, with Trump ultimately avoiding trial on these charges following his 2024 election victory.

Bill and Hillary Clinton should testify over Epstein, top Dem says

WASHINGTON — Former President Bill Clinton and former First Lady and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton should testify before a congressional committee about their links with Jeffrey Epstein, a senior Democratic senator told Raw Story.

“People get subpoenaed, they should show up,” Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) told Raw Story at the Capitol Wednesday.

The Clintons have rejected Republican attempts to force them to testify about links to Epstein, the late financier and sex offender, setting up a clash with Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chair of the powerful House Oversight Committee.

Earlier this week, lawyers for the Clintons released a lengthy letter rejecting the legal premise of Comer’s subpoena.

In their own blistering letter to Comer, the Clintons pointed out that the Department of Justice had not fully complied with a law mandating that it release all files related to investigations of Epstein.

“Comer should subpoena [the] DOJ,” Luján said, laughing.

Under Attorney General Pam Bondi, a close ally of President Donald Trump, the DOJ is widely seen to be dragging its feet on the Epstein matter.

Trump’s once-close friendship with Epstein, a convicted sex trafficker who killed himself in prison in New York in 2019, is an enduring subject of fascination, reporting, gossip, and festering scandal.

“Look,” Luján said. “What Comer does, if he's gonna subpoena people, he should subpoena everyone that needs to be subpoenaed, and pull them in.

“And if he wants to make this look political, Comer is doing a pretty good job of that.

“But anyone involved in all of this Epstein bulls—, they should come in and they should fess up and the truth should be shared with the American people, right? No matter who they are, because everybody, because this was so bipartisan, everybody should do it. I mean, that's how I would describe it.”

The Epstein affair has indeed ensnared a number of prominent public figures. Bill Clinton has prominently featured in DOJ releases since Congress passed a law mandating such transparency. Trump’s name has also been shown to be in such Epstein files.

Trump has named the Clintons among liberal figures he says should be investigated in relation to Epstein.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, after theatrically displaying an empty chair during a supposed deposition of Bill Clinton, Comer said: “Jeffrey Epstein visited the White House 17 times while Bill Clinton was president.

“No one’s accusing Bill Clinton of anything, any wrongdoing. We just have questions.”

Comer also said he would charge the Clintons with contempt of Congress.

Speaking to the right-wing Real America’s Voice TV network, Comer said: "We expect the Clintons to come in, or I expect the Clintons to be met with the same fate that [Steve] Bannon and [Peter] Navarro were met with when the Democrats were in control.”

Bannon and Navarro, close Trump aides and advisers, both served prison time after refusing to answer subpoenas for testimony as part of investigations of the deadly January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump’s supporters.

Democrats rejected Comer’s threats as political posturing.

On Wednesday, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), a target of Trump’s demands that his political enemies be prosecuted, told Raw Story Comer was not the only Republican in Congress working to Trump’s benefit in matters relating to Epstein.

“I think this is a political exercise by Jim Jordan,” Schiff said, referring to the Ohio Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee.

“I think they will lose in court if it's litigated. But I think this is designed to deflect attention from the president's withholding of all the Epstein files.”

CNN host fact checks Jim Jordan live to his face: 'Fentanyl doesn’t come from Venezuela'

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) took to CNN Sunday to defend President Donald Trump’s unprecedented attack and takeover of Venezuela as being “America first,” but was quickly rebuked after floating a debunked claim about the South American nation’s role in drug trafficking.

“[Trump] says he's running Venezuela, he's totally open to putting boots back on the ground there, and he's signaling that Cuba and Colombia could be next,” said CNN’s Dana Bash. “How is that America first?”

Jordan first argued that the Trump administration’s attack on Venezuela and kidnapping of its president was widely supported by “most Americans,” and despite recent polls suggesting the polar opposite. He then leaned into frequent talking points among conservatives that Venezuela played a significant role in the trafficking of fentanyl.

"It's consistent with keeping drugs off the streets,” Jordan said. “I know folks in the fourth district of Ohio and what fentanyl and other drugs have done to some families that I get the privilege of representing.”

Bash immediately tried to interject, only for Jordan to continue to speak over her about the supposed popularity of the Trump administration’s attack. Bash again moved to rebuke Jordan.

“Fentanyl doesn't come from Venezuela,” Bash said bluntly.

“Cozying up to China and Iran, which are part of that, certainly does!” Jordan fired back.

According to a 2025 report from Trump's own Drug Enforcement Administration, Venezuela plays virtually no role in the production or trafficking of fentanyl, which is primarily produced in Mexico.

Rep. @Jim_Jordan called out on CNN for floating the debunked claim that Venezuela trafficks fentanyl into the U.S.

Nearly all fentanyl that enters the U.S. comes from Mexico. pic.twitter.com/7ddPLDkpJz
— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) January 4, 2026