Jim Jordan renews requests to 4 current and former government officials

Jim Jordan renews requests to 4 current and former government officials for information and interviews as House Judiciary investigations take shape.

Rep. Jim Jordan is sending a renewed set of requests to four current and former government officials on Thursday, providing a window into how the highest-ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee is zeroing in on his first top targets ahead of the next Congress when he obtains subpoena power.

The letters, obtained by CNN, are already being sent to former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former Director of the CIA John Brennan, the Executive Assistant Director of the FBI’s Human Resource Branch, Jennifer Moore, and the former executive director for the Department of Homeland Security’s Disinformation Governance Board, Nina Jankowicz.

Jordan is asking for voluntary cooperation at this point, and repeat previous requests for information and even transcribed interviews that have gone unanswered with House Republicans in the minority, but warns in all four letters he is committed to pursuing these matters “including by compulsory process if necessary.”

To Clapper and Brennan, Jordan is asking for information and documents pertaining to a statement they signed onto in October 2020, after they’d left public service, that sought to discredit a New York Post story about Hunter Biden.

Jordan also renews his request for Moore to sit for a transcribed interview as he seeks to further investigate claims the FBI and Department of Justice have been politicized, an effort he has committed to investigate through letters to top FBI and DOJ officials.

Jordan has also released more than 1,000 pages of his committee’s investigative roadmap alleging political interference by the FBI and Justice Department based in part on whistleblower allegations, while rehashing some previous claims and requests that Republicans have made.

Jordan repeats a claim he made to her in a previous letter, that protected whistleblower disclosures “suggest that the FBI is engaging in a ‘purge’ of employees with conservative views by revoking their security clearances and indefinitely suspending these employees” and that she has “signed many of the formal notices for these adverse personnel actions.”

“We have also received information suggesting you have retaliated against at least one whistleblower who has made protected disclosures to Congress,” Jordan continues.

FBI’s Assistant Director of the Office of Congressional Affairs Jill Tyson responded to Jordan’s earlier requests in a November 29 letter obtained by CNN emphasizing the vigorous ethics training all FBI employees receive to promote accountability, writing, “it is important to emphasize that allegations against one or a very small number of employees do not reflect a widespread political bias or a lack of objectivity by the FBI’s 38,000 employees who perform their jobs objectively, rigorously, and with professionalism, Nor do such allegations fairly call into question the FBI’s motivations and actions to fulfill its mission, which reflect the collective judgment and effort of our workforce.

Tyson addressed Jordan’s claims about whistleblowers as well by saying, “the FBI takes all allegations of misconduct very seriously, and that includes taking seriously our responsibility to FBI employees who make protected disclosures under the whistleblower regulations.”Jordan and Tyson have exchanged a few letters to date and Jordan has repeatedly claimed responses do not satisfy his concerns.

And to Jankowicz, Jordan renews his request for a transcribed interview to discuss her brief role as the executive director of the Disinformation Governance Board created by the Department of Homeland Security that no longer exists.

Jankowicz resigned in May and the board has been dissolved.Jankowicz’s appointment drew condemnation from GOP lawmakers and right-wing media personalities, who pointed to her past tweets and statements regarding the laptop of President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and Christopher Steele, the author of the so-called Steele dossier.

Jankowicz responded to some of the criticism regarding a tweet about Hunter Biden’s laptop, including once calling the laptop story “a fairy tale.”When she resigned, Jankowicz responded to more of the attacks she had received, defending her work.

Rep. Jim Jordan calls the now disbanded Disinformation Governance Board “an anti-democratic and un-American attempt to establish a de facto Ministry of Truth within the federal government.

”DHS and the White House defended the board and called Jankowicz “imminently qualified,” but eventually decided to pause the initiative and call for a review. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas later acknowledged the confusing rollout of the working group and in August, DHS shut down the board.

Representative Jim Jordan said that Jankowicz never responded to the request he tabled in May “the DHS’s response did not assuage our concerns.”

Ted Cruz votes against Mitch McConnell as Senate GOP leader Senator Ted Cruz hss voted for Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, to replace the long -standing leader of Senate Republicans after a poor midterm performance.U.S. Sen.

Ted Cruz, voted to oust Minority Leader Mitch McConnell from the top of his party’s conference, though the long-standing Republican leader overcame the intraparty challenge.

During a closed-door Senate Republican meeting, Cruz supported a bid by U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, to replace McConnell the first challenge to McConnell’s leadership since the Kentuckian took control of the party in 2007.

Scott is the head of the Senate Republican campaign arm.But 37-member majority voted against Scott’s bid for leader during the meeting that lasted 3.5 hours.Cruz had also introduced a motion in the meeting to delay leadership elections until all races in the upper chamber were called.

One of Georgia’s Senate seats remains up in the air until a January runoff between Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker.

Democrats currently have a 50-seat majority with President Kamala Harris as the tiebreaker.

Cruz’s motion to delay also failed.Cruz had previously voiced ire over his party’s lackluster showing in the midterm elections, which failed to flip the Senate from Democrats’ minuscule majority, and Republican leadership’s inability to unify the conference in opposing Democrats’ agenda.

Coming out of the meeting in the historic Old Senate Chamber, Cruz said “there was a lot of expression in the room that the Republican conference and Republican leadership needs to be more vigorous and more effective in fighting policies that are hurting the American people.”

Cruz said he remained determined to push leadership to take a more assertive, unified front in the future.

Prior to the vote, Cruz lambasted leadership for not forcing unified opposition to Democrats’ agenda, citing Republican defections on a bipartisan infrastructure package passed last year and a pending vote Wednesday in the Senate to advance legislation that would enshrine same-sex marriage protections into federal law that could likely attract a number of Republican votes.

“The Democrats actually have discipline to say, ‘we don’t support your agenda and we’ll block it,’” Cruz said on his podcast. “Our leadership believes there is nothing worth actually fighting for, that we should surrender on everything.”

Republicans had also met to discuss the future of their party on Tuesday a meeting Cruz described in his podcast as “an epic, gladiatorial battle” where he made his objections known.

Cruz’s shouts could be heard by reporters waiting outside the meeting room.But the meeting was much more civil, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said as senators spilled out of the room.

He acknowledged senators’ disappointment with the midterm results and their vexation at current Senate rules that make it difficult for the body as a whole to deliberate on legislation.

Most legislation is marked up in committee and passed swiftly through the floor.“People were frustrated, obviously, because we weren’t as successful as we’d hoped to be” in the midterms, Cornyn told reporters.

“I thought [the meeting] was very civil, and it wasn’t personal. I know sometimes things tend to deteriorate into the personal, but this was very respectful, very professional.

Cornyn, who is a close ally of current Republican leadership, stressed that each senator is a “free agent,” which makes unifying behind a single vision “challenging.”

During the meeting, Cornyn brought up avenues for rank-and-file members to raise points with leadership, McConnell told reporters.

McConnell appeared unfazed after the vote, telling reporters that he wasn’t taking the challenge personally and “of course, I don’t own this job.”

He said he was proud to have won a 37-member majority within the conference despite the spirited case against him. He added that he has no intention of giving up the leadership position.

“Anybody who wants to run for it, feel free to do so,” he said. But he added, “Look, I’m not going anywhere.

”Why So sure? Is there a reason why Mitch McConnell is so sure that he won’t be going anywhere after the election or he is ready to do “whatever it takes” for them to win the seat?

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