Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio told “The First” host Jesse Kelly Tuesday that the probe into the origin of discredited claims President Donald Trump colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign should be “pursued to the fullest extent.”
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released documents and a memo Friday detailing what she called a “years-long coup” against Trump after he defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race. Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, told Kelly the plot was hatched in the Oval Office by then-President Barack Obama and senior officials during the episode on Kelly’s YouTube channel.
“It’s between election day and inauguration day, and they’re figuring out what to do,” Jordan, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, told Kelly. “They have this meeting on December 9 [2016], in the Oval Office, all the key players are there, Comey, Clapper, Brennan, McCabe, Lynch, you name it, the whole team is there. It’s at this meeting where it looks like President Obama decided we’re not going to accept the intelligence community assessment that President Trump and Russia had no collusion.”
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Jordan then described how those in the Oval Office plotted to “trap and undermine” Trump, including a warning from Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York that the intelligence community could come after Trump “six ways from Sunday.” Jordan said that Gabbard did “exactly the right thing” by releasing the documents, prompting Kelly to ask if those behind the plot “would actually go down.”
“That’s going to be up to the Attorney General and the Justice Department,” Jordan responded. “But I think this is something that has to be pursued. We’ll see what Pam [Bondi] decides to do. First gather the evidence, do the investigation. I think you have a lot, that’s why the Director of National Intelligence turned that information over to the Justice Department.”
“I do think it’s important for we as Republicans, we as people who love this country, the greatest country ever, not be vengeful but also say, look, accountability’s important,” Jordan continued. “And I do think what I just described, I believe that happened just as sure as I’m talking to you, Jesse. What I described is wrong. Wrong as wrong can be. So I am all for the Justice Department using every means they can to go after these people, within the law, within what’s fair, what’s the right thing to do, but I do think they should do it… I do think it should be pursued to the fullest extent,” Jordan said.
Obama’s spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush responded to allegations that the former president launched the plot to undermine Trump Tuesday on X. “Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response,” Rodenbush wrote. “But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.”
“Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes,” he added. “These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.”
Special counsel John Durham released a report on May 15, 2023, on the origins of the FBI investigation of allegations that Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia that found that the FBI “did not and could not corroborate” the claims from the now-discredited Steele Dossier, which was used to obtain warrants to monitor communications by Carter Page and other associates of Trump.
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