Exclusive: Jim Jordan "open to whatever" reveals "truth" about Trump attack
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House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said during an Axios House event Tuesday that the American people "want some answers" after the assassination attempt of former President Trump, and that he is "open to whatever gets us the truth."
Why it matters: The shooting at Trump's rally in Pennsylvania, which left one rally attendee dead, has triggered a bipartisan push for investigations that examine how the incident unfolded.
- "The American people want some answers after what they saw on Saturday, so hopefully we'll get some of that from [FBI] Director Wray in our committee," Jordan told Axios' Alex Thompson at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
- Both House and Senate committees have been keen to launch probes since the assassination attempt over the weekend, while the Secret Service has been under intense scrutiny over the apparent security lapse.
- House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is set to subpoena Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear at a hearing later this month.
State of play: Jordan zeroed in on the many unknowns that remain since the events of Saturday, with his key concerns being: "How do we get to the truth, how do we get it in a timely way?"
- He claimed some Americans have "healthy skepticism" about the FBI — an ongoing target of GOP abhorrence — which means, "you have to balance all that out and figure out."
- He said he is "open to whatever gets us the truth," but he said the normal committee process could be more likely versus creating a select committee, as Democrats did months after the Jan. 6 attack.
- Jordan said that Wray was already scheduled to be on Capitol Hill before the assassination attempt, but "obviously [his visit is] going to be now primarily focused on I think what happened on Saturday. And frankly, in some ways, what didn't happen."
Zoom out: Jordan, a co-founder of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, is a close ally of the former president.
- He said that he left a message for Trump following the assassination attempt, but that he was letting "his family talk to him," adding that he'll likely "talk to him later this week."
Go deeper: Jim Jordan's quiet power play for 2025
