DOJ investigates Democratic Rep Cori Bush but not GOP Rep Jim Jordan for plotting Trump’s coup
DOJ needs to answer why!
On Tuesday, we learned that the Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into Democratic Rep. Cori Bush in connection with spending thousands of campaign dollars to protect herself from a tsunami of violent threats. Bush—who is the first Black woman ever elected to Congress from Missouri-became a target for the right given who she is and her work as a leader in the Black Lives Movement. More recently, her defense of Palestinian humanity and criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies in Gaza has resulted in more than just a backlash but also the right wing pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC vowing to spend millions of dollars to defeat her.
Now you get why the right was ecstatic when news broke that Bush was being criminally investigated. Worse, GOP Rep Troy Nehls of Texas on Tuesday went as far as to defend the death threats against Bush by telling CNN that she “wouldn’t be getting threats” if she wasn’t “so loud all the time.” Nehls added that Bush should “tone it down” and then added the racist trope calling the security who protected her a “thug.”
Rep. Bush has denied any wrongdoing, explaining, "As a rank-and-file member of Congress I am not entitled to personal protection by the House, and instead have used campaign funds as permissible to retain security services." Bush added in her statement, "I have not used any federal tax dollars for personal security services. Any reporting that I have used federal funds for personal security is simply false." She concluded, “We are fully cooperating in this investigation.”
If there is credible evidence that Bush--or any member of Congress regardless of party--may have broken the law, then DOJ must investigate. There should be no debate on this.
That bring us to the bigger question: Why has the DOJ not investigated GOP Rep. Jim Jordan given the mountain of evidence detailed in the Jan 6 committee report that he was "a significant player in President Trump's efforts" to overturn the election. In fact, no member of Congress was more involved with Trump to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.
That is why a few months ago, former Jan 6 Committee member Liz Cheney told the audience at an event point blank, “Jim Jordan knew more about what Donald Trump had planned for Jan. 6 than any other member of the House of Representatives.” She then added powerfully, “Jim Jordan was involved and was part of the conspiracy in which Donald Trump was engaged as he attempted to overturn the election.”
For starters, the Jan 6 report details that Jordan “spread lies about the election…during interviews with friendly media outlets.” But his actions went far beyond words. He was the GOP congressional leader for Trump in plotting the coup.
For example, the report documents his leadership role, writing that on “January 2, 2021, Representative Jordan led a conference call in which he, President Trump, and other Members of Congress discussed strategies for delaying the January 6th joint session.” Yes, Jordan “led” that planning meeting.
During that call just days before Jan 6, the discussion not only included strategizing for stopping the congressional certification process but also “discussed issuing social media posts encouraging President Trump’s supporters to ‘march to the Capitol’ on the 6th.” That means Jordan was aware prior to Jan 6 of the plan to send Trump supporters to the Capitol to “Stop the Steal.”
And on the day before Jan 6—as described in the report-- “Jordan texted Mark Meadows (Trump’s chief of staff), passing along advice that Vice President (Mike) Pence should ‘call out all the electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all.” In other words, Jordan was giving specific advice for how Pence should prevent the certification of Biden’s win in the service of Trump’s coup.
Jordan was so integral to Trump’s plan that Trump praised him to DOJ officials just a week before the Jan 6 attack. As the report notes, during a December 27, 2020, phone call between Trump and Acting Attorney General Rosen --as Trump was trying to enlist DOJ’s efforts in his coup—he praised Jordan as a “fighter.
The Jan 6 committee report goes on to document numerous other interactions between Jordan and Trump in the service of Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election, including speaking to Trump at least twice on Jan 6 by phone. However, as the report highlights--Jordan made “inconsistent public statements about how many times they spoke and what they discussed” on Jan 6.
Given Jordan “had materially relevant communications with Donald Trump or others in the White House,” the Jan 6 committee subpoenaed him. But Jordan refused to comply with the committee’s subpoena seeking his testimony. This is in sharp contrast to Rep Bush who is fully cooperating with the DOJ investigation.
Let’s be every clear: Jordan should be charged as co-conspirator with Trump in the attempted coup case in Washington, D.C, where Trump is facing four felonies. The evidence is undisputed that Jordan was working with Trump to achieve his goal of preventing the certification of Biden’s victory by Congress on Jan 6 for which Trump is now charged with crimes. And Jordan took numerous overt acts in furtherance of that illegal goal, which is the very definition of being a criminal co-conspirator.
Yet here we are more than three years since Jan 6 and we have seen ZERO indication DOJ is investigating Jordan for his role in the attempted coup. This is not only a horrific miscarriage of justice, it makes our Republic less secure because people like Jordan will be embolden as we had into the 2024 election to conspire with Trump again to undermine our democracy and even overturn the results.
Why DOJ has not criminally investigated Jordan—as well as other GOP members of Congress who worked with Trump to illegally overturn the 2020 election--is a question that we need answered!
When will Jordan be held accountable for blowing off a Congressional subpoena? We're waiting...
It's just another Republican sham investigation with no fucking evidence — when on the other side of the aisle sits Jim [Gym] Jordan, who was instrumental in trying to overthrow our government. There’s the double standard people — in case you don’t know it.