Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said Wednesday on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that it would be “unbelievable” if the U.S. government and the Department of Justice had funded the dossier on President Donald Trump and Russia, and he called for a special counsel to further investigate.
Jordan grilled Attorney General Jeff Sessions Tuesday during his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. The Ohio congressman urged the Department of Justice to appoint a special counsel to investigate the dossier, 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation, and the controversial Obama-era Uranium One deal involving a subsidiary of a Russian government-owned company.
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The Ohio congressman told LifeZette Editor-in-Chief Laura Ingraham that “ideally” a DOJ prosecutor should be able to handle an investigation into the dossier, the Clinton Foundation, and the Uranium One deal. However, Jordan argued that for this case, a special counsel would be needed who wasn’t involved with the issues during the Obama era. Special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, is unfit because he served as FBI director at the time of the Uranium One deal, Jordan said.
“[Mueller] was FBI director when he failed to inform Congress that all these things were going on surrounding the Uranium One deal,” he said. “He didn’t tell the committee to make the decision on whether that deal could even move forward. So we certainly think he’s compromised.”
“That’s why we called for the special counsel,” Jordan added. “And the things we have learned since we called for that, initially called for that special counsel, I think just reinforced the idea that we need one.”
Jordan told Ingraham that the “central issue” he and other members of Congress are concerned about is whether or not the FBI under former Director James Comey’s leadership and the Department of Justice allowed themselves to act in a politicized manner leading up to the 2016 presidential election. The Ohio congressman also expressed his concerns about how Comey handled the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.
“But the central issue in my mind right now that is the most compelling and concerning issue is the idea that one major political party can finance oppo[sition] research,” he said. “The FBI is also paying the author of that [dossier] research, Christopher Steele — at least that’s what’s been reported.”
Related: Sessions Won’t Promise Special Counsel for Uranium One
“And that was the first question that I asked Mr. Sessions, and he would not answer it,” Jordan added. “But it looks like that all took place.”
“If that is all taking place, and that is turned into an intelligence document, to then go after the opposition party, you’ve got the government and the FBI complicit with a major national party in one party’s presidential campaign to go after the other party’s campaign, their nominee … I mean, that is unbelievable if that happened,” he continued. “And so, that in and of itself should require special attention, in my judgment.”
Jordan said he believes that “most Americans” would approve of the appointment of an impartial special counsel to investigate the issues pertaining to Clinton, her family’s foundation, and the creation and funding of the dossier because “people need to be held accountable.”
“And there should be one standard. It’s called equal treatment under the rule of law,” he said. “And that does not seem to be working right now in certain situations.”
In response to Jordan’s questions about the appointment of a special counsel, Sessions said: “It would take a factual basis that meets the standards of the appointment of a special counsel” to do it. He added, referencing Jordan’s own words: “And I would say ‘Looks like’ is not enough basis to appoint a special counsel.”
(photo credit, homepage images: Jim Jordan, CC BY-SA 2.0, by Gage Skidmore; photo credit, article images: Jim Jordan, CC BY-SA 2.0, by Gage Skidmore)
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