House Judiciary Committee Democrats have released a report that exposes Jim Jordan’s DOJ whistleblowers as fake.
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government Ranking Member Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) wrote in the forward to their report:
This partisan investigation, such as it is, rests in large part on what Chairman Jordan has
described as “dozens and dozens of whistleblowers… coming to us, talking about what is going
on, the political nature at the Justice Department.”
To date, the House Judiciary Committee has held transcribed interviews with three of these individuals. Chairman Jordan has, of course, refused to name any of the other “dozens and dozens” who may have spoken with him. He has also refused to share any of the documents which these individuals may have provided to the Committee. Nevertheless, based on interviews of the three witnesses that have been made available to us, we are able to draw a number of striking conclusions about the state of the Republican investigation.
First, the three individuals we have met are not, in fact, “whistleblowers.” These individuals, who put forward a wide range of conspiracy theories, did not present actual evidence of any wrongdoing at the Department of Justice or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Second, the transcribed interviews we have held thus far refute House Republican narrative about “bias” at the Department of Justice. We urge Chairman Jordan to schedule the public testimony of these individuals without delay. The American public should be able to judge for themselves whether these witnesses or their allegations are remotely credible.
Third, these interviews also reveal the active engagement and orchestration of disturbing outside influence on the witnesses and, potentially, the Republican members of the Select Subcommittee. A network of organizations, led by former Trump administration officials like Kash Patel and Russell Vought, appears to have identified these witnesses, provided them with financial compensation, and found them employment after they left the FBI. These same individuals lobbied for the creation of the Select Subcommittee in the first place. They have a story to tell, and they appear to be using House Republicans to tell it.
Fourth, and finally, nearly all of the Republicans involved in this investigation—the witnesses, some of the Members, and certainly their outside operators—are tied together by the attacks of January 6, 2021. The witnesses whom we have met objected to the arrest of individuals suspected to have laid siege to the United States Capitol. Others of the “dozens and dozens,” we suspect, participated directly in the riot. If this investigation is an attempt to whitewash the insurrection or hedge against pending indictments, it has been spectacularly ineffective—but these extremists share a view antithetical to the safety of our republic, and the American public has a right to be concerned.
We note that, in the ordinary course of business, we would not disclose the substance of a transcribed interview at this stage of an investigation. Even when we do not agree with the aims of our Republican colleagues, we respect the importance of Congressional oversight. We directed our staff to prepare this report only after we learned that House Republicans had begun to share the
contents of these interviews with the press. Full context and a reasonable rebuttal are necessary to protect the truth.
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The big takeaway is that the whistleblowers aren’t really whistleblowers. They are the usual Trump collection of oddities that have been assembled to help fool the public and push a political agenda. No one is exactly sure what the point of this investigation is beyond trying to hurt Biden and help Trump, but the whistleblowers have been a humiliating failure by Jim Jordan and Trump.
It hasn’t been two months yet, but the big House Republican investigations are faceplanting.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association