Tag: Jordan

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Jim Jordan texted Mark Meadows argument for Mike Pence to reject Biden electoral votes

Jim Jordan texted Mark Meadows argument for Mike Pence to reject Biden electoral votes

Rep. Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

Saul Loeb | Pool via Reuters

Republican MP Jim Jordan conveyed a message to then White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows arguing that Vice President Mike Pence should reject certain Electoral College votes on Jan. 6 during the confirmation of Joe Biden’s presidential win over Donald Trump.

The text, which NBC News confirmed Wednesday was broadcast from Jordan, was one of several messages to Meadows a House special committee publicly shared this week as it pursued criminal disdain for Trump’s former chief of staff.

The text was written by Joseph Schmitz, a former Pentagon inspector general and former Trump campaign aide, and passed on to Meadows by Jordan, a source told NBC News. Schmitz could not be reached immediately to comment.

The message said that on Jan. 6, Pence was due to “cast all votes which he believed to be unconstitutional as there were no votes at all,” alleging that such an act would be consistent with “judicial precedence” and “guidance from.” Founding father Alexander Hamilton “stand. “

The legally questionable argument that Pence could unilaterally invalidate or deny a state’s votes was rejected by Pence himself, despite Trump urging him to do so.

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Schmitz’s argument, relayed by an incumbent member of Congress to the president’s chief adviser, reveals how Trump’s allies at all levels exchanged ideas about how the outcome of the democratic elections could be changed.

Jordan is a staunch ally of Trump who worked alongside Meadows in the conservative House Freedom Caucus. The Ohio legislature was one of dozen of Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted to challenge election results that favored Biden after the rioters were evacuated from the Capitol.

Jordan spokesmen did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request to comment on the text sent to Meadows.

The special committee is tasked with investigating the facts and causes of the deadly invasion of January 6, when hundreds of Trump supporters forcibly stormed the Capitol and forced Congress to flee their chambers. Many of the rioters were spurred on by Trump’s false claims that the 2020 elections had been “rigged” against him by widespread electoral fraud.

The House of Representatives voted Tuesday night to hold Meadows for disregarding Congress for defying the summons of the selected panel to request dismissal. The committee says Meadows created thousands of pages of records and agreed to answer questions before abruptly pulling back. Meadows has sued the selected panel for invalidating two of his subpoenas, arguing, in part, that Trump exercised executive privilege over his testimony.

The committee this week revealed some of Meadows’ records, including texts he received from Jordan and other lawmakers. They also shared messages sent to Meadows by Donald Trump Jr. and several pro-Trump Fox News presenters, who panicked over the Capitol uprising as it unfolded.

“He must condemn this s — as soon as possible. The Capitol Police’s tweet is not enough, ”Trump Jr. wrote to Meadows on Jan. 6, said Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Vice chair of the special committee, during a meeting Monday night.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Read part of Jordan’s message to Meadows at the meeting without naming Jordan as the sender.

“On January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, was supposed to call all votes that he deems unconstitutional because there were no votes at all,” reads the text, which was sent to Meadows by a person who only described Schiff as “Legislator”.

An accompanying graphic displayed this quote as a full sentence. Jordan’s office argued to NBC that Schiff misrepresented the message because it omitted some of the language Jordan sent to Meadows.

A select committee spokesman told CNBC that the graphic “accidentally” added a period to the end of the quote Schiff read during the meeting. “The special committee is responsible for the mistake and regrets the mistake,” said the spokesman.

The spokesman sent the full text messaging record “in the interests of transparency” to CNBC.

It states: “On January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, should call all votes that he deems to be unconstitutional, as there are no votes at all – according to the instructions of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton and ‘No legislative act,’ wrote Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 78, ‘may be valid against the Constitution.’ The Hubbard v. Lowe affirmed this truth: “That an unconstitutional law is not a law at all is no longer up for discussion.” 226 F. 135, 137 (SDNY 1915), appeal dismissed, 242 US 654 (1916). Because of this, an unconstitutional elector, like an unconstitutional law, is not a voter at all. “

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Entertainment

Watch Normani Shock Jordan Chiles With a Video Message

Watch Normani Surprise Jordan Chiles With a Video Message

Jordan Chiles is really living his dream. Just a few weeks after winning the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, the 20-year-old gymnast received a warm video message from Normani. At an appearance Access dailyJordan reflected on her stormy life since the Summer Games and mentioned a recent Instagram comment she received from the pop superstar. That then prompted the hosts to pull up the surprise video.

“I’m really trying to keep my composure because I’m actually a superfan and I’m really proud of your trip. Congratulations on winning the silver in Tokyo. I see you girls. Keep up the good work,” said Normani. “Keep working hard, keep emitting black girl magic because you make me very, very proud. I live through you because I used to be a gymnast, but sister, I knew I wouldn’t go to the Olympics. “Jordan held back tears and said,” I wasn’t expecting that at all. ” Check out the sweet surprise at 2:51 in the video above.

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Politics

McCarthy threatens to drag GOP members from Home Jan. 6 committee after Pelosi rejects Trump allies Jordan and Banks

McCarthy threatens to pull GOP members from House Jan. 6 committee after Pelosi rejects Trump allies Jordan and Banks

U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks during a weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol July 1, 2021 in Washington, D.C.

Alex Wong | Getty Images

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy threatened Wednesday to withdraw all his picks for the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol invasion unless House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reinstates the two Republicans she rejected.

Less than an hour earlier, Pelosi announced that she had vetoed GOP Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jim Banks of Indiana, two of McCarthy’s five picks, from participating in the House probe of the deadly attempted insurrection by a mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters.

Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement she made that decision “with respect for the integrity of the investigation” and “with an insistence on the truth and with concern about statements made and actions taken by these Members.”

On the same day of the Jan. 6 invasion, in which hundreds of Trump’s supporters broke into the Capitol to try to stop President Joe Biden’s election certification, both Jordan and Banks had voted to object to the results of the election.

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McCarthy, R-Calif., in a statement called Pelosi’s move “an egregious abuse of power” and accused her of being “more interested in playing politics than seeking the truth.”

“Unless Speaker Pelosi reverses course and seats all five Republican nominees, Republicans will not be party to their sham process and will instead pursue our own investigation of the facts,” McCarthy said.

Jordan, a staunch Trump ally and the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, in a brief statement said Pelosi’s actions show that her Jan. 6 probe “is nothing more than a partisan political charade.”

Banks in his own statement said Pelosi “is afraid of the facts.”

“We said all along that this was a purely partisan exercise by the Democrats and Nancy Pelosi’s rejection of me and Jim Jordan shows once again she is the most partisan figure in America today,” Banks said.

But Pelosi earlier this month had picked a Republican — Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming — one of her eight members on the panel. 

The Democratic-led House set up the select committee after Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would have created an independent commission to investigate the attack. Six GOP senators voted to move forward with the legislation.

Pelosi’s statement Wednesday said she told McCarthy that she would appoint the other three Republican nominees to the panel, and “requested that he recommend two other Members” to replace Jordan and Banks.

When asked at the Capitol why she rejected the two Republicans, Pelosi told NBC News, “January 6th.”

McCarthy had selected Banks to serve as the top Republican on the 13-member panel.

McCarthy’s other picks included Reps. Rodney Davis of Illinois, Kelley Armstrong of North Dakota and Texas freshman Troy Nehls. 

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

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Trump ally Jim Jordan amongst Republicans on Jan. 6 Capitol riot committee

Trump ally Jim Jordan among Republicans on Jan. 6 Capitol riot committee

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks during his weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol on February 27, 2020 in Washington, DC.

Mark Wilson | Getty Images

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Monday picked five House Republicans to serve on the select committee that will investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. 

The California Republican named five out of the 13 members of the select House committee, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has the final say over which lawmakers McCarthy can appoint. 

McCarthy’s picks include Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., who will serve as the ranking member of the panel. The other members include Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Illinois., Rep. Kelley Armstrong, R-N.D. and freshman Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas. 

The most well known of the five lawmakers is likely Jordan, who is a committed supporter of former President Donald Trump and is the founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative lawmakers. In January, Jordan helped lead an unsuccessful effort to prevent the House of Representatives from impeaching Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection.

McCarthy’s picks come just a day before the committee is set to hold its first hearing, which will feature witnesses from the U.S. Capitol Police Department and Metropolitan Police Department. It also comes days after McCarthy met with Trump at the former president’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

In a piece published Monday, Trump is quoted as saying that he wanted the same thing the rioters wanted: to overturn President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.

The committee hearings come more than six months after the violent insurrection in which supporters of Trump stormed the Capitol to disrupt the certification of Biden’s win. 

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The five Republicans picked by McCarthy are not the only GOP members of the panel. Earlier this month, Pelosi appointed Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. as one of her eight choices. 

Cheney was one of the two GOP representatives who had voted to create the committee last month. She was also one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in January.

The decision to choose Cheney was notable, especially as McCarthy reportedly threatened to strip GOP representatives’ committee seats if they accepted an appointment to the panel from Pelosi, according to NBC news. 

Pelosi also appointed Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who will lead the panel. The other members include Democratic Reps. Pete Aguilar, Adam Schiff, and Zoe Lofgren of California, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Elaine Luria of Virginia and Stephanie Murphy of Florida. 

The formation of the panel has been a flashpoint of debate between Democrats and Republicans. 

The select committee passed in a mostly 222-190 party-line vote last month, after Senate Republicans blocked a previous bill that would have created an independent commission to investigate the insurrection.

Many GOP leaders asserted that the select committee would only duplicate existing efforts by the Justice Department and standing congressional committees to probe the attack on the Capitol.

The committee will investigate what caused the attack on the Capitol, which includes examining activities of law enforcement agencies and technological factors that may have prompted the event. It will also issue a report on its findings and how to prevent another attempt to disrupt the transfer of power.

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Politics

Vernon Jordan, Civil Rights Chief and D.C. Energy Dealer, Dies at 85

Vernon Jordan, Civil Rights Leader and D.C. Power Broker, Dies at 85

After graduating from law school in 1960, he became a trainee lawyer with Donald Hollowell, who had a busy one-man civil rights practice in Atlanta. Mr. Jordan worked closely on the University of Georgia overturned case and was close to Charlayne Hunter (later the journalist and author Charlayne Hunter-Gault), one of two young black plaintiffs admitted to court after winning. On the day of her first school visit, Mr. Jordan was photographed escorting her to campus, surrounded by a hostile crowd.

After the Georgia case, he served as the field director of the NAACP in Georgia. Because of his job, he had to travel the southeast regularly to oversee civil rights cases, large and small. He said he tried to follow a friend, vaunted director of the Mississippi bureau, Medgar Evers, who was later murdered.

He quickly became director of the Southern Regional Council’s Voter Education Project and, in 1970, was appointed Executive Director of the United Negro College Fund. A year later, his friend Whitney Young, the leader of the Urban League, drowned on a trip to Lagos, Nigeria, and Mr Jordan was recruited to fill the unexpected position.

The National Urban League, the embodiment of the black establishment, brought Mr. Jordan to New York and exposed him to another world. The organization relied on a wide range of prominent citizens, both white and black, and was closely associated with American corporations. During his tenure, the group published a widely read annual report entitled “The State of Black America”.

While holding that post on a trip to Fort Wayne, Indiana in May 1980, he was in the company of a local Urban League executive Martha Coleman, a white woman, when a group of white teenagers sat in a car and passed them she mocked. Later, when Ms. Coleman fired him at his hotel, he was shot in the back by a man with a hunting rifle. Mr Jordan almost died on the operating table, had six operations and stayed in the hospital for 89 days.

Joseph Paul Franklin, an avowed racist, was charged with the crime but acquitted in court, though he would later boast that he was the shooter. He was later convicted of other crimes, including the fatal shooting of two black joggers who ran with white women, and executed in Missouri in 2013.