Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Mark Green (R-Tenn.), who in this Congress lead the House Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees, respectively, are the subjects of a new complaint to the federal entity known as the Office of Congressional Ethics that seeks an investigation. The complaint originates with an organization called the Congressional Integrity Project and raises serious concerns about Jordan and Green apparently linking both past and upcoming actions taken in their official roles to sought donations for the GOP cause.
Ethics rules for members of the U.S. House of Representatives specifically prohibit key classes of public figures from making such a connection. For Jordan, what he raised with donor groups was the dispute between himself and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg around that local prosecutor’s criminal investigation of former President Donald Trump, a probe that has now culminated in a slew of charges for the ex-president stemming from hush money that was provided to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Green, whose tenure in the House is evidently newer, brought up scrutiny of Alejandro Mayorkas, the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, who has faced deceptive attacks from Republicans about what has been transpiring around the southern border.
Mayorkas recently appeared before Green’s committee for questioning. Members of that panel include Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who predictably verbally sparred during the gathering. Green, the chairman, also previewed some of what was to be covered in discussions around the disputed donations.
“Representatives Jordan and Green politicized their official investigations to solicit political contributions for the House Freedom Fund,” Kyle Herrig of that advocacy organization said in the complaint. “The rhetoric of these Representatives could have signaled to donors that the investigations were contingent on the political contributions solicited — the very linkage between political fundraising and official actions that the House Ethics Rules aim to prevent.”
