Rep. Jim Jordan called out House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler during a hearing with former Trump campaign chairman Corey Lewandowski for not calling on the Justice Department inspector general to testify.
In front of a large audience, with major cable news networks carrying that part of the hearing, the Ohio Republican castigated his Democratic colleagues for holding the hearing as part of their impeachment investigation.
Jordan suggested the American people would be “better served” examining how “this whole false accusation started” instead of retreading over two-and-a-half years of investigations run by the FBI and former special counsel Robert Mueller.
“You know a great place to start? A great place to start, Mr. Chairman? Ask you about this one. We could go today. A great place to start would be the inspector general’s report that was issued just three weeks ago, the scathing report about Jim Comey,” Jordan said, referring to Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report last month criticizing Comey for how he handled sensitive memos describing his discussions with President Trump.
During a committee meeting earlier this month, Jordan confronted Nadler about bringing Horowitz in to testify but was shut down when he insisted on getting answers.
“When I asked the chairman when we might have an opportunity to question Mr. Horowitz, he said, ‘I don’t know. I haven’t thought about that.’ Of course you haven’t thought about that,” Jordan said. “Too busy trying to impeach the president. Too busy slapping subpoenas on Corey Lewandowski.”
Nadler did not take the bait for a confrontation, and Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson began his line of questioning by describing Lewandowski as “a fish being cleaned with a spoon.”
Republicans such as Jordan are also eager to hear from Horowitz after he submitted his Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act application report to Attorney General William Barr for a classification review on Friday.
