Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, encouraged Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday to skip his hearing with the House Judiciary Committee if Democrats don’t back off a format the Justice Department opposes.
Barr is threatening to pull out of the Thursday hearing in objection to Chairman Jerry Nadler’s choice of format. Nadler, D-N.Y., would have Barr face questions from not only members but also the counsel for each party.
Jordan, a member of the committee, argued this strategy is a covert way to start impeachment proceedings against President Trump.
“I think there are a couple of things going on,” Jordan told Fox Business host Lou Dobbs. “One, we have to understand the Democrats already start impeachment proceedings. They are just not calling it that. And the reason they’re not calling it that is because they know it is not justified and they know the American people do not want it. But that is what they are doing and that’s why they want the staff to ask Bill Barr questions because that is how it works in the impeachment process.”
With Barr under intense scrutiny for his rollout of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, Jordan said Democrats are being unfair to the attorney general.
“Second, Bill Barr shouldn’t come,” he said. “Look, you cannot trash the attorney general for the last three weeks like Democrats have done and then change the format in the last few days like they are trying to do. And expect the attorney general to show up. Let the members ask the questions if they’re willing to do it the way its always done. Bill Barr will be there. If they’re not, he shouldn’t show up. And I’m 100% for him not showing up if they don’t do it the right way.”
Nadler has said he will not back down to Justice Department pressure. “The witness is not going to tell the committee how to conduct its hearing, period,” Nadler told CNN on Sunday. If Barr does not comply, Nadler said, “Then we will have to subpoena him, and we will have to use whatever means we can to enforce the subpoena.”
Nadler’s Senate counterpart, Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on Monday that Nadler was going “way over the top” with the terms of the hearing. Noting how Mueller found no conspiracy between President Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Kremlin, Graham added, “This is political revenge. The House is on a witch hunt — truly a witch hunt to try to make something out of nothing.”
Barr is scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer questions about the Mueller investigation on Wednesday.
