Rep. Jim Jordan (R.-Ohio), who serves on the Judiciary Committee and the Oversight and Reform Committee, said in a question-and-answer exchange with CNSNews.com that it is time to build a wall to secure the southern border of the United States against gangs, drugs and human trafficking.
“We should focus on finding a solution to our immigration system and the national emergency at the border,” said Jordan. “First, we need to build the border security wall. We should also conduct serious asylum reform to deal with the caravan problem and end catch-and-release. We should finally secure the border from the gang problem, the drug problem, and the human trafficking problem.”
Jordan also said that rather then re-investigate what the Mueller investigation has already demonstrated did not happen—collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia—Congress should look at how that investigation got started in the first place.
“Congress absolutely should look into how this whole crazy process started,” said Jordan. “Here’s what we know: The FBI used the Clinton campaign’s ‘salacious and unverified; opposition research document (the Steele Dossier,) dressed it up to make it look like legitimate intelligence, and took it to the secret FISA Court to get a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. We need to dig further into that process. We need to know who was involved.”
“The Oversight Committee should focus on discovering what took place at the upper levels of the FBI and DOJ when this whole fake Russia Collusion narrative started,” said Jordan.
“It appears that our Intelligence community was weaponized to take down first a presidential candidate, then the sitting President of the United States,” he said. “That is never supposed to happen in our country, but it did. We need to figure out how it happened and make sure that it never happens again.”
Here is the CNSNews.com Q&A with Rep. Jordan:
CNSNews.com: Should Congress further investigate the actions taken by the FBI, the Justice Department and other federal officials in initiating and pursuing an investigation of the Trump campaign and alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign and the early months of the Trump administration? What questions should such an investigation pursue?
Jordan: Congress absolutely should look into how this whole crazy process started. Here’s what we know: The FBI used the Clinton campaign’s “salacious and unverified” opposition research document (the Steele Dossier,) dressed it up to make it look like legitimate intelligence, and took it to the secret FISA Court to get a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. We need to dig further into that process. We need to know who was involved. Who knew about the Steele Dossier? Who made the decision not to tell the FISA Court other key information? How far up the chain of command did that decision go? Was there other information used to get the FISA warrant, or was the Dossier the key piece? Instead of wasting our time covering ground that Robert Mueller has already covered, these are the questions that congressional investigations should be asking.
CNSNews.com: Should Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s full report be released to the public and, if so, what do you believe can be legitimately redacted from the publicly released version?
Jordan: The Attorney General should absolutely release as much of the Mueller report as he can, consistent with the statutes surrounding Special Counsel investigations. He has already indicated that he will err on the side of transparency, and that this information will come out in weeks, not months. In addition, we should see the declassified Carter Page FISA application. We should see the 302s, the FBI interview notes, when Bruce Ohr debriefed key people at the FBI on his interactions with Christopher Steele and Glenn Simpson. We need to see all of that to get to the bottom of what happened.
CNSNews.com: Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D.-N.Y.), who voted against impeaching President Bill Clinton and was a strong congressional ally of President Barack Obama, said on CNN on Sunday that Congress and the Judiciary Committee have a “much broader” mandate than Special Counsel Mueller. “The special prosecutor is only looking at crimes,” Nadler said. “We have to look at protecting the rule of law, at obstruction of justice, at abuses of power on a much broader level than simply crimes.” Do you believe Chairman Nadler wants the Judiciary Committee to apply a different standard to oversight of the Trump administration than he favored applying to the Clinton and Obama administrations? If so, are those shifting standards driven by partisan considerations?
Jordan: Chairman Nadler sent 81 document requests covering over 60 individuals. Contrast that with the Special Counsel investigation: Mueller and his team of 19 lawyers and 40 FBI agents spent 22 months and over $25 million in taxpayer funds investigating these questions. They found no collusion and no obstruction of justice. More than 2,800 subpoenas prove it. Nearly 500 search warrants confirm it. Approximately 500 witnesses corroborate it. Does Chairman Nadler really think he will find something the Special Counsel missed? We all know that he won’t. I see no other reason than partisan considerations why he insists on continuing with this fishing expedition. When will Democrats quit focusing on stopping the President and start focusing on helping the country?
CNSNews.com: What is the most important public policy issue the Judiciary Committee should pursue in this Congress? Why?
Jordan: The Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over immigration. We should focus on finding a solution to our immigration system and the national emergency at the border. First, we need to build the border security wall. We should also conduct serious asylum reform to deal with the caravan problem and end catch-and-release. We should finally secure the border from the gang problem, the drug problem, and the human trafficking problem.
CNSNews.com: What is the most important question or issue that the House Committee on Oversight and Reform should pursue? Why?
Jordan: The Oversight Committee should focus on discovering what took place at the upper levels of the FBI and DOJ when this whole fake Russia Collusion narrative started. It appears that our Intelligence community was weaponized to take down first a presidential candidate, then the sitting President of the United States. That is never supposed to happen in our country, but it did. We need to figure out how it happened and make sure that it never happens again.