Rep. Jim Jordan on the January 6th Commission and More

BUCK: The January 6th commission is in the headlines this week. Democrats now rallying around Pelosi after she blocked two people, Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jim Banks of Indiana — two members of Congress — from being on the committee. We’ve got one of them with us right now, Congressman Jim Jordan. Sir, great to have you. Clay and Buck here. Thank you.

REP. JORDAN: Good to be with you guys. Congratulations on the show and good to be with you today.

BUCK: Thank you. What happened with this commission? Why did Pelosi block you and Banks? What’s going on?

REP. JORDAN: Yeah, I mean, I don’t know. I think it’s… First of all, it shows it’s pure politics. As I said the other day, what else are they gonna talk about? I mean, are they gonna talk about the rising crime in every city? Are they gonna talk about the fact that, you know, we have a crisis on our border? You know, it’s interesting.

Think about that for a second. March was the worst month on record for illegal crossings until April, and April was the worst month on record until May, and then May was the worst on record until June. That’s what you call a bad trend and certainly a crisis. So they can’t talk about that; they can’t talk about the prices.

I mean, frankly, the price of everything has gone up. So, I think it’s just politics, this whole thing. And then my guess is they didn’t want us on there because we were gonna ask the fundamental question, which is, “Why wasn’t there a proper security presence that day?” And, frankly, that’s a question only the Speaker of the House can answer. And my guess is they didn’t want that question continually brought up in the hearings that were, you know, gonna happen.

CLAY: Why do you think that security presence was so weak on that day? I know that the data and the analysis and everything else is still out there, Jim. This is Clay. Thanks for coming on with us.

REP. JORDAN: Yeah. Hi, Clay. Okay.

CLAY: What do you think happened? Why is that not a bigger story?

REP. JORDAN: No, no. It’s the question, too, and my hunch is this is. It’s because they couldn’t bring out the National Guard. They couldn’t have police because what did they do all of 2020? They downgrade the police, they attacked the police, they defunded the police, and they said it was peaceful protests.

I mean, they normalized anarchy! So, when you normalize rioting and looting, and then when the same rioters and looters who attacked police (chuckles), destroyed small businesses, hurt innocent civilians, and then Democrats did what? Raise money to bail ’em out of jail! It’s kind of tough to say, “By the way, we need more of you here on January 6,” after a whole year of doing that.

BUCK: Have you ever seen anything, Congressman Jordan, that has been such a focus of the Democrats that has received this level of hyperbole? I know we could talk about Russia collusion and other fantasies that seemed to grip the swamp for years on end.

REP. JORDAN: Yeah.

BUCK: But they’ve said — and I’m not making these quotes up. People can look them up for themselves. Prominent Democrats, prominent broadcasters have said things like, “This is the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War,” that this was…

REP. JORDAN: (laughing)

BUCK: In fact, there are a couple people on MSNBC who said this was worse than 9/11 —

REP. JORDAN: Oh God.

BUCK: — which is truly deeply insulting.

REP. JORDAN: Yeah.

BUCK: What is this? I mean, it’s just… The whole thing to me just strikes me that they’re unserious people, but they’re a serious challenge to the future of this country.

REP. JORDAN: Yeah. Well, I mean, first of all, it was a serious and bad day, no doubt about it, and people who did wrong are being held accountable.

BUCK: It’s a riot and people should be punished for rioting —

REP. JORDAN: Yes! Yes! Exactly!

BUCK: — no matter what their politics.

REP. JORDAN: Yeah, and we’ve always said that — and it, frankly, is happening. Five hundred people have been prosecuted. So that’s the way it’s supposed to work in our great system in our country, the greatest country ever. But this is just part of this always gotta get President Trump. They’ve been doing it for five years. And, you know, we can go through the things.

But it was Mueller, it was impeachment 1, it was impeachment 2, and here they go again. So it’s part of this bigger phenomenon. They’ve been out to get the president. Anything the president does, anything that they can try to blame on him, they’re gonna do. And as I said before, what else can they talk about?

I mean, this has to be… I mean, any common sense — any rational, logical — person that looks at this, this has to be the worse six-month start to any administration certainly in our lifetime. We’ve never seen anything like this. We went from a secure border to a crisis. We went from peace in the Middle East to rockets, thousands of rockets being fired on our best ally, Israel.

We went from a great economy before covid, coming back to a good economy now that we’re getting out of covid with the vaccine and everything else? And what does Joe Biden do? Screw it up. They do the four most dumb things you can do, Democrats. They continue to want to lock down their economies.

They spend like crazy. They pay people not to work — and, oh, for the people who are working, guess what they’re getting ready to do? Raise your taxes! Four stupid ideas. But they’ve been they’re doing so they got nothing else to talk about so they’re gonna go back to their old playbook; run the same off-tackle play which is, “We are gonna go after President Trump.”

CLAY: Jim, you’re good friends with President Trump. What is your read on his plans going forward? We had him on the show a couple of weeks ago —

REP JORDAN: Yes.

CLAY: — and he said he would make his decision on whether to run again once the midterms happened in 2022.

REP. JORDAN: Yes.

CLAY: What do you think about his personal kind of position right now, and what do you think he’s likely to decide based on your relationship with him?

REP. JORDAN: Great question. I will be shocked if he doesn’t run. Every time I talk to him, every indication is… Now, he hasn’t officially announced it. I understand that. And he’s gonna wait until accessed after the midterms. But I would be shocked if he doesn’t run. I want him to run, I want him to win, and it is for this basic reason: You tell me one president who has done more of what they said they would do than President Trump.

No one! He said he would cut taxes; he did. He said he would reduce regulations; he did. He said he’d get out of the crazy Iran deal; he did. He said he’d put the embassy in Jerusalem; he did. He said he’d put conservatives on the court; he did! He put three on the Supreme Court, a whole bunch of ’em in our federal court system.

Everything he said he would do he did, and he would get a lot more done if it wasn’t for everyone in that town. Eevery Democrat, everyone in the mainstream media, and all too many Never Trumper Republicans were opposed him, and in spite of all, he got all that stuff done. So I definitely want him to run. I hope he does. And I will be shocked if he doesn’t.

CLAY: What’s the scuttlebutt on the Democratic side that you pick up? Do you think that they are as terrified of Kamala Harris —

REP. JORDAN: (chuckling)

CLAY: — as some stories are out there are of her being the nominee in 2024? Do you think they try to drag Biden across the finish line again? What do the Democrats do?

REP. JORDAN: Yeah, I don’t know. I do think they realize that, you know, this is terrible. Again, it’s why they focus on the January 6 ’cause they can’t focus on anything else. It’s ’cause it’s so bad. And, frankly, it’s gotten to the point where it’s embarrassing. We’re the greatest nation ever, and our commander-in-chief shows no strength to our adversaries.

I think our adversaries see the same thing we do. So I don’t know if President Biden will run again. I don’t know if it will be Kamala Harris. And, frankly, I think if there were an election today — of course, there’s not; we’re 3-1/2 years away from a presidential election — I don’t see how they win. I think so many Americans are like, “We didn’t bargain for this.”

And there has to be buyer’s remorse for some people who were for Trump and then for some reason switched — which, you know, shocked me why they did, but some people, I think, did that. Now, they’re thinking, like, “What was I thinking? Look at the mess this guy made.” Think about this: The price of everything — eggs, bread, milk, gasoline, lumber, airline tickets, used cars! You can’t name one thing where the price hasn’t went up, which we all know is a tax on everyone.

BUCK: And yet I can just feel the “unity” washing over the country —

CLAY: (chuckling)

REP. JORDAN: (chuckling)

BUCK: — every time these Democrats give a speech or open their mouths, Congressman. It feels like they’re just giving a big hug to the Republicans. Grandpa Joe wants to hold us close to his bosom. We’re all gonna be friends. Yeah, right.

REP. JORDAN: Yeah.

BUCK: What is your sense of how we’re looking? We mentioned the presidential race but we’re going into the midterms here.

REP. JORDAN: Uh-huh.

BUCK: In a matter of months, we’ll really be in the cycle.

REP. JORDAN: Yes.

BUCK: How are we shaping up there? What do you think it’s gonna look like when all is said and done in the next Congress?

REP. JORDAN: Yeah. I mean, we’re gonna win. Kevin McCarthy’s gonna be Speaker of the House. It’s gonna happen. Now, again, we’re a year and a half away. As you guys know, you’ve been around this business; a year and a half in politics is a long, long time. But if the election were tomorrow, I think we’d crush ’em ’cause, again, people are just fed up with this.

The other issue that I think Americans are so fed up with — and this is not gonna go away, ’cause you see what they’re trying to do now relative to the covid and the Delta variant and everything else. People are nervous about the attack on the First Amendment and their fundamental liberties. I mean, what Jen Psaki did a week ago where she stood up there and she said, “We’re…”

She said (paraphrased), “First of all, Big Tech and these platforms is where so many people get their news.” So, i.e., that’s part of the press. And then she said, “And we’re telling them what they should do and disinformation they should take down, what information they should allow.”

And I’m like, if that’s not a direct attack on the First Amendment and freedom of the press, I don’t know what is. So you think about every single liberty we enjoy as Americans under the First Amendment. Every one of them has been attacked and assaulted over the last couple weeks, the last few weeks.

BUCK: Congressman, I gotta ask before we let you go. The Durham report, we used to hear about it a lot.

REP. JORDAN: Yes.

BUCK: We haven’t seen it, obviously. Are we going to? Is it going to matter? You were on this from the very beginning. People like me have not forgotten about the spying on the Trump administration —

REP. JORDAN: I agree. Yes.

BUCK: — the lying about it by the Democrats, by intel community, the press. Are we ignore get answers?

REP. JORDAN: I mean, your guess is as good as mine. We were supposed to have this over a year ago. So I do not know. We have not heard squat from the Justice Department. The Democrats refuse to bring — haven’t brought — in Merrick Garland in for his sort of obligatory hearing that happens every year in front of the Judiciary Committee. So I don’t know.

I mean, at this point maybe we’ll get the Durham report on January 20, 2025, when President Trump is sworn in for the next term.

CLAY: (chuckling)

REP. JORDAN: But at this point, I don’t know. It’s crazy, and it’s probably the number one question I get still is, “When is someone going jail? When is someone gonna be held accountable? When are we gonna hold these people accountable who we know abused their position?” I just don’t know. I do not know.

CLAY: Jim I know you’re a sports fan. Today, the Cleveland Indians announced that they now are the Cleveland Guardians.

REP. JORDAN: Yeah. (chuckles)

CLAY: This is not made-up story.

REP. JORDAN: (laughing)

CLAY: This is real for people out there who may not have heard of this. The Cleveland Indians, longtime Major League Baseball franchise, in order to avoid offending people, are now the Cleveland Guardians.

REP. JORDAN: Yeah, I guess.

CLAY: When you see a story like this, what’s your reaction.

REP. JORDAN: You just laugh, because the folks I get the privilege of representing in west central and north the vest Ohio, many of them Cleveland Indians fans, they’re just like, “What the…? What the heck? What’s the world coming to?” I guess it’s slightly better than the Cleveland Baseball Team.

CLAY: (laughing)

REP. JORDAN: So, you know, but not much. And it’s just like, “Come on. Can’t we just…?” This is why… Clay, you know this better than anyone. This is why so many people don’t watch sports anymore.

CLAY: Yeah.

REP. JORDAN: I think it was Prager who said a while back, “The left ruins everything it touches.” I mean, the left controls Big Media. The left controls Big Tech. The left controls Hollywood. The left controls higher education. The left controls big corporations. The left now controls Big Sports!

And we’re like, “No, no! Sports was the one place where all you did was cover the winners, who won the game, who lost the game, who made the winning hits, who made the winning plays, who made the winning score.” I mean, it’s like, “Now I gotta get politics from the freaking sports page too,” and no one likes it.

CLAY: There’s no doubt at all. By the way, Jim, I’m an SEC guy. What do you think about Texas and Oklahoma both going to the SEC, reportedly? Big Ten is gonna have to make some moves.

REP. JORDAN: Oh, I know, I know. As I saw that. That is… You know, I always cheer for the Badgers and the Buckeyes. So that will be tough, those two states come in, and what does the Big 12 do? You know, I don’t know, but… And this whole image-and-likeness thing, we’ll see how that shakes out.

My concern, frankly, as a guy that comes from one of the nonrevenue sports and always focus on wrestling and some of the other sports that don’t, you know, don’t generate the revenue for Big College athletics, is I hope those sports can survive and do fine. Because giving student athletes and young men and the young women the opportunity to compete and participate?

I’m afraid some of those things are gonna go away when so much revenue and things are focused on the others. But I understand the need for it. But let’s just hope college athletics can continue to go, and we can offer a lot of opportunities for young people to participate and chase down their goals.

BUCK: Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

REP. JORDAN: You bet.

BUCK: Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio. Have a great weekend, sir. Come back soon.

REP. JORDAN: All right. Take care.