by WorldTribune Staff, November 5, 2019
Rep. Jim Jordan may be transferred from the House Oversight to the House Intelligence Committee so he can participate in the upcoming public impeachment hearings, reports say.
The Ohio Republican, a top critic of what he said is a “sham” impeachment process, has taken a leading role in questioning impeachment witnesses in closed-door depositions thus far.
“But a resolution passed last week on party lines would exclude him from the public hearings to be conducted by the Intelligence Committee,” the Washington Examiner noted in a Nov. 4 report.
Discussions about temporarily shifting Jordan to the intelligence panel (officially named the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence or HPSCI) are “serious and ongoing,” a senior Republican told CBS News.
North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Meadows said Jordan “would be a good addition to augment the HPSCI team.” But if the plan does not pan out, Meadows added, “There is no doubt that they are very capable should his addition not be plausible.”
The decision will be up to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, reports said. If Jordan is placed on the intelligence panel, another GOP member will have to be moved out to make room.
Jordan, the ranking Republican on the Oversight Committee, said the decision to exclude Oversight from the public impeachment hearings was part of an effort by Democrats to shape the narrative against Trump.
“It’s not like we didn’t expect it,” Jordan said last week. “I think it’s wrong. Intelligence is one of the smallest committees in the Congress.”
Jordan’s chief investigative counsel on the House Oversight Committee, Steve Castor, has led the Republican line of questioning of witnesses in closed-door depositions so far, the Examiner’s report noted.
During a Fox News interview on Sunday, Jordan called the impeachment process a “sham,” noting how Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff will receive a disproportionate amount of time to question witnesses and Republicans can invite witnesses but need Schiff’s approval.
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