Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) continues to act like he’s being ambushed anytime he’s pressed on details of his conversations with President Trump on Jan. 6.
In an interview with Spectrum News last week, Jordan was asked whether he had checked exactly how many times he spoke with Trump that day and when those conversations occurred, as the timing could be a crucial component of congressional investigators’ interest in their insurrection day interactions.
“Nope,” Jordan said.
Jordan also wouldn’t commit to cooperating with the Jan. 6 select committee if the panel subpoenaed or requested anything from him.
“Depends what it is,” Jordan said. “I mean, I’m not going to answer hypothetical questions, but I just think this is a complete sham, what these guys are doing.”
Jordan also dismissed the possibility of sharing phone records with the committee if asked.
“Same response I gave you before,” Jordan said. “This is a total political committee.”
This isn’t the first time Jordan — a top Trump ally who helped challenge Joe Biden’s electoral victory on Jan. 6 — has done anything but clear up lingering questions about his whereabouts and conversations on the day of the Capitol insurrection.
In the past several months, Jordan has gotten attention for his noncommittal responses when asked about how many times and when he had spoken to Trump on Jan. 6.
During an interview on Fox News in July, Jordan gave a meandering response to questions about his conversations with Trump and struggled to answer how many times he was in touch with the former president on that day.
“I mean — I’ve talked to the President so many — I can’t remember all the days I’ve talked to him, but I’ve certainly talked to the President,” Jordan told Fox News in July.
A month later, Jordan wouldn’t confirm to Politico whether he had at least one additional phone call with Trump as the deadly Capitol insurrection unfolded. Last August, Politico reported that after a group of lawmakers evacuated the House chamber and took shelter in a safe room on Jan. 6, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) joined Jordan on a call with Trump to urge the then-President to tell his supporters to stand down.
Jordan told Politico at the time that he’d “have to think about it” when asked to confirm the call he shared with Gaetz, citing many conversations he had on Jan. 6. Jordan reportedly said phone calls to Trump occurred more than once on the day that a mob of Trump supporters breached the Capitol as Trump refused to concede the election.
“Look, I definitely spoke to the President that day. I don’t recall — I know it was more than once, I just don’t recall the times,” Jordan told Politico Playbook.
Fast forward to last month, when during a House Rules Committee hearing Jordan still couldn’t get his story straight about whether he spoke to Trump on Jan. 6 and when that might have happened.
“I talked to the President after the attack,” Jordan said during the hearing last month, with exasperation: “I’ve been clear about that.”
Jordan also refuted Politico’s report on him speaking to Trump during the insurrection.
“During?” Jordan said last month. “No, I did not speak to the President during the attack.”
Although the Jan. 6 committee has issued more than three dozen subpoenas to those within Trump’s inner circle thus far, the panel has yet to subpoena any sitting members of Congress. Chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) hasn’t ruled out the possibility, however, telling CBS last month that “nobody’s off limits” — including the former president.
