It Sure Seems Like Jim Jordan Just Admitted He Spoke With Trump on January 6th

UPDATE: Rep. Jim Jordan confirmed to Spectrum News on Wednesday that he spoke with Trump on January 6th.

“I spoke with the president last week, I speak with the president all the time, I spoke with him on January 6th,” Jordan said.

He couldn’t seem to recall, however, if he spoke with Trump before, during, or after the insurrection. “Uhh, I’d have to go— I spoke with him that day after … I think after?” he stammered. “I don’t know if I spoke with him in the morning or not. I just don’t know. I don’t know when those conversations happened. I know that I spoke with him all the time.”

January 6th, the day that’s famously hard for any of us to remember.

Ohio's @Jim_Jordan confirms to me: “I spoke with [Trump] on Jan. 6th." Before, during or after attack? “I spoke with him that day, after? I think after. I don't know if I spoke with him in the morning or not. I just don't know…I don't know when those conversations happened.” pic.twitter.com/h4fbuMYtk0 — Taylor Popielarz (@TaylorPopielarz) July 28, 2021

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) was none too pleased when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) last Wednesday barred him from serving on the House select committee investigating the January 6th riot at the Capitol. The move made sense at the time, considering Jordan is one of the most outspoken pushers of the election lie that fueled the insurrection. It makes even more sense now, considering Jordan’s apparent admission on Tuesday night that he spoke to former President Trump on the day of the siege, which could turn him into a material witness in the investigation.

The revelation came during an interview with Bret Baier on Fox News. When Baier asked Jordan whether he spoke to Trump on January 6th, Jordan launched into a readymade non-answer, bulldozing over Baier’s attempts to get him back on the topic of January 6th. Baier succeeded eventually, though, wringing a brief instant of clarify out of Jordan’s jittery rambling.

Here’s the full exchange. Just imagine Jordan is speaking like he’s on a podcast you’ve set to 2x speed.

Baier: Did you talk to the former president that day?

Jordan: I’ve talked to the former president umpteen times. Thousands— I mean, not thousands—

Jordan: —Countless, countless times. I talk to the president— I never talk about what we talk about because I just don’t think that’s appropriate. Just like I don’t talk about what goes on in Republican conferences.

Jordan: I’ve talked to the president numerous times. I continue to talk to the president since he’s left office.

Baier: I mean on January 6th, congressman.

Jordan: Yes. I mean, I’ve talked to the president— I’ve talked to the president so many— I can’t remember all the days I’ve talked to him, but I’ve certainly talked to the president.

In a long rambling answer, Jim Jordan admits he talked to Trump on January 6th. When asked what they discussed, Jordan changes the subject to the Speaker and security posture pic.twitter.com/n6sLuudNoX — Acyn (@Acyn) July 27, 2021

Jordan’s office did not respond to a Rolling Stone email seeking confirmation that he spoke to Trump on January 6th.

Jordan’s potential conversation with Trump on the day of the insurrection — when, mind you, Trump did not call off the rioters — isn’t the only reason he could be called to testify before the committee. Back in December, Jordan and other Republicans met with Trump to plot how to overturn the election results. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) described the meeting to Politico in December as “a back-and-forth concerning the planning and strategy for January the 6th.”

Jordan has since been mentioned as a potential witness in the investigation into the horror that resulted. Not surprisingly, he’s rejected the idea that he or any other Republicans should be subpoenaed as part of the commission. “I think this commission is ridiculous, and why would they subpoena me?” he said in May, according to The Washington Post. “I didn’t do anything wrong — I talked to the president. I talk to the president all the time. I just think that’s — you know where I’m at on this commission — this is all about going after President Trump. That seems obvious.”

But what was said during conversations with the former president — both in December to plot what was going to happen on January 6th, and on January 6th as the president refused to call off the rioters — seems pretty damn germane to an investigation into the insurrection. Jordan has refused to reveal what was said in these conversations, which is exactly why he needs to be subpoenaed.

On Tuesday, before Jordan admitted he spoke to Trump on the 6th, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) stressed the need to get to the bottom of what he knew and when he knew it. “I think that Congressman Jordan may well be a material witness,” Cheney told Good Morning America. “He’s somebody who was involved in a number of meetings in the lead-up to what happened on January 6th, involved in planning for January 6th, certainly for the objections that day as he said publicly.”

Cheney, one of two Republicans on the committee along with Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), said during the committee’s first hearing on Tuesday that we “must also know what happened every minute of that day in the White House — every phone call, every conversation, every meeting leading up to, during, and after the attack.”

We found out on Tuesday that Jordan could have insight into this line of inquiry, as well. It’s time for the committee to figure out why he was so nervous about admitting it.