Congress should investigate the Department of Justice’s conduct and that of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in “trying to frame” former President Donald Trump, said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.
Jordan noted Congress should also investigate the Justice Department’s targeting of parents that speak out at school board meetings and investigate whether the U.S. government might have funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab in China before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jordan spoke Saturday in Orlando at the Conservative Political Action Conference. He did so in an interview-style setting alongside Matt Schlapp (chairman of the American Conservative Union).
Jordan spoke out in light the revelations made in a court filing by John Durham. They revealed that Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann hired an IT firm to collect data at Trump Tower and later, the White House.
“The scariest thing I took away from what he filed two weeks ago is some of the language he used. He said it was designed to create an ‘inference and a narrative’ about President Trump and the false accusations that he was somehow colluding with Russia, which we know wasn’t true,” Jordan said.
“But thinking about that terminology, inference and creating a narrative. That’s what we used to call framing somebody,” Jordan added. “Trying to frame a presidential candidate, a president-elect and potentially even the president of the United States, that is really some scary stuff for our country and just underscores this assault on liberty that we have seen and the weaponization of government that we have seen the left use to go after their political opponents.”
Durham was indicted by Sussman on charges of lying to the FBI. Kevin Clinesmith, a Justice Department lawyer, also indicted Durham for making a false statement in court documents to obtain a surveillance warrant against Carter Page, Trump campaign aide.
“Remember all the things that happened in ‘16, they first take the dossier, which they know is false, they take it to the court,” Jordan said.
“When they go to the court, they lie about it. Mr. Clinesmith was indicted for it,” Jordan said.
He also noted that Azra Turk, an alias of Trump, went to Europe to meet George Papadopoulos, another Trump adviser.
“That’s called spying,” Jordan continued. “We know all that happened. The latest Durham filing now shows that the Durham filing goes directly to the Clinton campaign. This seems to have happened while he was a candidate. It seems like it occurred while he was president elect. It looks like it happened while President Trump was actually president of the United States.”
Schlapp was referring to the time that Democrats and media dismissed Trump for claiming in 2017 that his campaign had been spied on.
“Everything they say is a conspiracy theory eventually turns out to be true. He was spied on,” Schlapp said.
Jordan, as the ranking member now would be the chairman if Republicans controlled Congress.
“Part of our constitutional duty is oversight. We must do the investigations. We’re the legislative branch. We can’t prosecute or indict anyone,” Jordan said, adding “the American people, all of you, the whole country deserves the truth.”
He stated that Congress could determine whether the federal government funded research conducted in China that could have led to the COVID-19 outbreak. He would also like to see Dr. Antony Fauci (director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) answer any questions.
“We need to know, for certain, did Dr. Fauci know two years ago that this virus came from a lab? Did he realize that? I think he did,” Jordan said.
He stated that illegal immigration and the southern border would also be a top priority.
“We need to know why the Biden administration–it seems to me–is taking the intentional position of not having a border,” Jordan said. “There is no other way to interpret this. It’s intentional. It’s deliberate. It’s just letting folks come in.”
He also wants Congress to find out from Attorney General Merrick Galrland how far the Justice Department has gone to target parents who object during school board meetings.
“We need to know, particularly on the Judiciary Committee, the oversight we’re going to have to do, why the Department of Justice sent out this email to FBI agents saying ‘put this designation, this threat tag label on parents,’” Jordan said. “I would love to ask Merrick Garland a simple question. What’s the number? How many parents currently have that designation associated with their names?”
