EXCLUSIVE: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan says his various investigations have proven the need for substantial congressional oversight of the federal government, and he told Fox News Digital he's hopeful House Democrats can find ways to work with the GOP majority.
"With all these things that we start to investigate, it seems to me that the central theme is — the only thing we get wrong is — it’s always worse than we thought," Jordan said.
During an interview with Fox News Digital, Jordan, R-Ohio, laid out the investigations the House Judiciary Committee and his Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government are conducting in the 118th Congress.
"We thought the government was pressuring Big Tech to do certain things on the Hunter Biden story, and then, the Twitter files come out, and we’re like, ‘Oh, it’s worse than we thought,’" Jordan said.
Jordan’s committee is investigating how the FBI and Big Tech companies like Twitter allegedly coordinated to censor stories about Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings and his laptop days before the 2020 presidential election.
"We thought that it was likely that COVID came from a lab and turns out, yep, it was," Jordan said, referring to the Energy Department and FBI Director Christopher Wray this week saying coronavirus likely stemmed from a lab leak in Wuhan.
"The whole Trump-Russia thing, we find out they knew the dossier was false but used it," Jordan said.
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The dossier was authored by ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and contained salacious and unverified allegations against Donald Trump. The dossier was used to obtain Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
The dossier also played a role in launching the FBI's investigation into whether former President Trump and members of his campaign colluded with Russia to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
Robert Mueller was later appointed as special counsel to take over the FBI's probe into the matter. After nearly two years, the investigation yielded no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 election.
Special Counsel John Durham has been investigating the origins of the FBI Trump-Russia probe since 2019. His investigation is ongoing.
The Judiciary Committee is also investigating Charles McGonigal, the former FBI special agent in charge of the counterintelligence division during the time of the Trump-Russia probe. McGonigal was recently indicted on charges of money laundering and other counts stemming from his alleged "collusion" with a Russian oligarch.
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"There are just examples after examples where it is actually worse than we initially assumed upon opening investigations," Jordan added.
"You look at all of these things, and different agencies targeting the American people who they are supposed to serve — whether it is the CDC or the DOJ and FBI and social media companies taking down things and limiting speech," Jordan explained. "And Democrats always seem to just move on."
The Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government is expected to investigate not only how the executive branch has gathered information on its citizens but how it has worked with other bodies, including private sector companies, to "facilitate action against American citizens."
The resolution creating the subcommittee states that the panel will investigate how the executive branch agencies "collect, compile, analyze, use, or disseminate information about citizens of the United States, including any unconstitutional, illegal, or unethical activities committed against citizens of the United States."
The resolution also notes that the subcommittee’s work will include "a full and complete investigation and study" and a final report to be submitted by Jan. 2, 2025.
As for working with his Democratic colleagues on the weaponization subcommittee and on the Judiciary Committee, Jordan said the Democrats "used to care about the First Amendment."
"I would hope they could work with us on this," Jordan said while reflecting on past legislation like The Shield Act, which he co-sponsored with Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md. It protects journalists from having to divulge sources to the government.
"We had worked with Democrats on limiting government’s ability to use facial recognition, so, civil liberty type things," Jordan explained. "But, unfortunately, they say they are going to fight us tooth and nail.
"We’re for free speech. We’re for the First Amendment, left to right, and we don’t think the government should be targeting people on the left or the right."
As for the Judiciary Committee, Jordan said it is focused on the crisis at the southern U.S. border. The panel's first hearing examined border security, national security and how fentanyl has hurt Americans across the country.
The Judiciary Committee is also investigating the Justice Department and FBI’s alleged "misuse of federal criminal and counterterrorism resources" to target parents at school board meetings.
Simultaneously, Jordan's committee has been probing Big Tech censorship and bias against conservatives.
