Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) recently took notice of a ploy from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who leads the House Judiciary Committee in this Congress, to obtain inside information from the criminal investigation by Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis that culminated in charges for the former president and 18 others.
Jordan sent a letter to Willis raising accusations that her probe appeared potentially based in politics. He sought a variety of materials from the local prosecutor, including any communications between her team and various individuals in the federal government that related to the Georgia investigation of these 19 individuals. There is no clear evidence that there, in fact, was any substantial tie between the efforts undertaken in Georgia and federally that on both levels resulted in criminal charges for the former president. Still, Jordan issuing this letter provides him and other Republicans with a platform to at least further the idea.
“Our democracy has been in trouble because Donald Trump has had too many enablers in Congress,” Schiff responded on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “Members like Jim Jordan, who are willing to tear down the justice system to protect him and to try to keep themselves in power. I’m working to stop them.”
Jordan also previously targeted the local investigative team in Manhattan that was responsible for the first criminal charges against the former president, though that push from House Republicans didn’t amount to much of anything. Though a House panel heard from Mark Pomerantz, a former member of the Manhattan district attorney’s team, Pomerantz repeatedly invoked his rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. Now, Jordan’s diatribes against Willis are wide-ranging — and repeatedly without evident basis.
In a portion of his letter addressing the claimed Republican concerns about potential coordination between local and federal investigators, Jordan simply notes that Willis and Special Counsel Jack Smith at the federal Justice Department covered similar ground in their respective investigations of Trump that led to charges. And in that portion of the discussion, that’s it. Jordan doesn’t even attempt to cite evidence that outlines a substantive link.
Our democracy has been in trouble because Donald Trump has had too many enablers in Congress.
Members like Jim Jordan, who are willing to tear down the justice system to protect him and to try to keep themselves in power.
I’m working to stop them. https://t.co/2zk9AVxA9g
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) August 24, 2023
