UPDATE: Friday, Mar 3, 2023 · 5:18:05 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
The New York Times now has a story up showing that the first three witnesses put forward by Jordan haven’t provided any firsthand knowledge about any wrongdoing.
Instead, the trio appears to be a group of aggrieved former F.B.I. officials who have trafficked in right-wing conspiracy theories, including about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, and received financial support from a top ally of former President Donald J. Trump.
So not only are Jordan’s supposed whistleblowers not actually witnesses to any wrongdoing, not only members of a “network of unvaccinated employees” who have been building their story together on a text chain, they’re also on the payroll of worst-children’s-book-ever author, Kash Patel. One of those three first witnesses is a conspiracy theorist who has publicly stated that Jan. 6 was “a set up” created as part of “a larger Democratic plan.”
That’s how reliable these witnesses are.
If you’re holding the paper copy of the Times, you might not notice this. The story is buried on page 14.
Rep. Jim Jordan’s squadron of “whistleblowers” need to take a lesson from Lauren Bacall, because while air is coming out of their mouths, none of it seems to be sounding an alarm. Or at least they’re not sounding an alarm about anything other than how Jordan’s claims about the government being “weaponized against conservatives” is pure hot air. Plus a little spit.
As CNN reports, Jordan claimed to have “dozens” of whistleblowers standing by to make his case against government agencies. However, it appears that exactly none of these supposed insiders have had their claims validated by the independent entities created to hear whistleblower cases. So there’s not one official whistleblower among Jordan’s “whistleblowers.” There also don’t appear to be “dozens.”
So far, three people have appeared for closed door interviews with committee staff. Among those three, one is retired and doesn’t have any firsthand knowledge, one already had their claims investigated and rejected, and a third apparently failed to tell Democrats on the Judiciary Committee that they had been suspended from the FBI—possibly for involvement in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
It’s really that last one which gives the game away, because Jordan’s committee seems to be nothing but an extended defense how breaking windows, beating up the police, smearing excrement on walls, storming Congress, and threatening to murder officials is all just good Republican fun.
Here’s Jordan being introduced this week at the annual CPAC get together as “the most powerful man in Washington.”
Surely that hurts the feelings of Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ron Johnson, and every other Republican who thought they were bringing the heat. It also seems to leave out another couple of guys named Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy who might have thought they were at the top of the GOP power list. As if. Matt Schlapp can be excused for omitting the one voice that most defines the party today, because Marjorie Taylor Greene isn’t part of the man club.
So, what exactly is the guy who CPAC just crowned the king of D.C. doing with his throne? He’s using his new committee for what may seem like a very peculiar purpose: To attack the FBI for not sufficiently supporting those members of the organization who went all in on overthrowing the government on Jan. 6.
It’s not as if there weren’t plenty of FBI agents who were ready to hop on board the insurgency train.
In the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection, top officials at the FBI were warned that “a sizable percentage of the employee population felt sympathetic to the group that stormed the Capitol.” They were also warned that the agency might have difficulty investigating those involved on Jan. 6 because many agents believed that going after the criminals who stormed the Capitol was just “political correctness.”
Jordan wants that “sizable percentage” to know that he is there for them. That includes adding to his whistleblower list several members of the FBI who were suspended from the FBI for actually being at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Jordan has even made this a point of his “investigation” as reportedly these FBI agents were fired for merely being among the crowd that was screaming at the police outside the building and engaging in chants of “Hang Mike Pence” rather than being inside the building.
According to Jordan, these agents were suspended for engaging in “protected First Amendment activity on January 6.” Which seems to ignore that FBI agents can be, and are, routinely dismissed for taking action seen as detrimental to the agency in any way. For example, agent Peter Strzok was fired over a series of anti-Trump text messages even though all of the messages were made in private.
Somehow, Jordan has omitted Strzok from his witness list.
People in all walks of life find that there are consequences to speech. Jim Jordan is certainly free to say “the Republican Party sucks and Donald Trump is a walking disaster,” but he shouldn’t be surprised to find that such a statement would have an impact on his green room experience at CPAC. When that speech also involves crossing multiple police lines to reach the Capitol—which seems like it should be something FBI agents would notice—those consequences can include losing a job that’s supposed to be about enforcing the law.
All of this makes it clear that when Jordan talks about “weaponizing the government against conservatives” what he really means is protecting those who directly engaged in a violent attempt to interfere with the operation of Congress, reverse the results of a legitimate election, and overthrow the government of the United States. That’s apparently what conservative means today.
There’s one other aspect of these whistleblowers. They’re not individuals there to tell about issues that affected them. As CNN notes, they are part of a self-confessed network that is cooperating around the same agenda.
Some of Jordan’s whistleblowers who have been suspended from the FBI have formed a “little bit of a network,” the senior Republican aide told CNN. One whistleblower told CNN that some of them communicate over a group text chain and that many initially connected through a community of unvaccinated employees.
So Jordan’s witnesses admit that they’ve been talking together in advance of providing testimony, and they’ve created their joint narrative while acting as part of a group of employees who deliberately and knowingly violated government requirements that they be vaccinated. Imagine a murder trial where all the witnesses are friends of the accused, and they admit that they got together beforehand to work out their testimony. Oh, and they were all caught at the crime scene. That’s the level of testimony that Jordan is providing—if he can even get his whistleblowers to show up. So far, many of them haven’t.
It’s no wonder that Jordan has refused to share information about the whistleblowers with Democrats on the committee. This has nothing to do with proving anything. Jordan doesn’t have to prove anything. The story is already written for him in social media and those group text chains. He only has to go to go to CPAC and accept the applause.
Arizona Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego has thrown his hat into the ring! Gallego will try to take progressive-turned-bizarre-centrist Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s seat in 2024. Today on The Brief, Markos and Rep. Gallego talk about the state of the country and his campaign, and what Americans want from the officials they elect to office.