After Donald Trump sounded the alarm on Truth Social in March that he was about to get indicted in Manhattan and alleged that DA Alvin Bragg was coordinating with the DOJ, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and his other House Republican foot soldiers entered Trump’s armageddon screed into the official record. In a letter sent days before Trump was even indicted, Jordan breathed life into Trump’s Truth Social conspiracy theory by requesting that Bragg turn over whatever supposed communications his office might have had with the DOJ about the investigation.
It was the first act of many by Jordan to use his chairmanship to go to bat for an indicted Trump, while also giving himself the platform to publicly poke holes in Bragg’s investigation, irrespective of whether said hole-poking ultimately goes anywhere.
And he’s doing it again. Just as it appears an indictment may be looming in a second investigation into Donald Trump, Jordan is using his oversight authority to insert himself ahead of an indictment and give himself, Trump and other Republicans a narrative to follow if/when charges drop.
NBC News reported this afternoon that Jordan sent Attorney General Merrick Garland a letter requesting “an unredacted copy of the memorandum outlining the scope of Mr. Smith’s probes regarding President Trump and any supporting documentation related to his appointment as special counsel.”
It’s the start of what will likely become a full-fledged investigate-the-investigators inquiry; a tactic that he and other House Republicans have been using for years now to muck up public perceptions of investigations into their political allies. It was the basis of what eventually became the John Durham probe. And as my colleague Josh Kovensky unpacks here, it’s the same tactic Rep. James Comer (R-KY) is currently using as he readies a vote on whether to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress.
Josh’s piece is worth the read.
The Best Of TPM Today
Here’s what you should read this evening:
Comer Tries To Run The First Trump Impeachment In Reverse
Far-Right Threats To Oust McCarthy Over Debt Ceiling Deal Turn Out To Just Be Talk
What The Nazis’ Attacks On Trans People Tell Us About Today
And ICYMI: Pssst
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
No, Jack Smith Isn’t Leaking All The Damning Mar-A-Lago Evidence — David Kurtz
What We Are Reading
Conservatives surprise McCarthy with floor rebellion over debt deal anger — Politico
Mark Meadows Testified to Grand Jury in Special Counsel Investigation of Trump — NYT
Chris Christie Launches 2024 Run in Bridge to Nowhere — The New Republic
