According to a letter he issued on Wednesday, Republican congressman Jim Jordan informed the House select committee examining the Capitol attack that he would consider cooperating with the panel’s subpoena only if they revealed the data that put him under investigation.
Jordan’s response, which came after he met with Donald Trump on January 6, stopped short of rejection to cooperate with his summons, though it remained unclear how he would move if the panel declined his request.
Jordan asked that House investigators share with him all papers they want to use in questioning, materials in which he is mentioned, and legal studies concerning subpoenaing members of Congress in a six-page letter to the select committee.
Jim Jordan Issues A List Of Demands
The answer puts the ball in the hands of the select committee, forcing House investigators to choose between acquiescing to Jordan’s requests in the hopes of persuading him to testify, or refusing and perhaps ruling off all prospects of cooperation.
However, Jordan looked to be taking a risk with the letter, which questioned the constitutionality of the select committee and its subpoenas. For starters, it was unclear if Jordan was willing to risk the repercussions of violating a subpoena if his requests were not granted.
Jim Jordan also complained that House investigators had not behaved in good faith when they issued a subpoena four months after Jordan declined to provide voluntary help. Jordan’s subpoena was sent alongside four others to the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, Scott Perry, Andy Biggs, and Mo Brooks, and requested evidence concerning his December 2020 meetings with Trump at the White House as well as other correspondence.
After Jim Jordan, McCarthy, and Perry failed to attend for interviews on tentative dates specified in the first letter asking voluntary assistance, House investigators took the extraordinary step of issuing subpoenas to five Republican members of Congress.
