Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) repeatedly denied Democrats’ requests to receive the testimony of one of the GOP’s self-described “whistleblowers” during Thursday’s House hearing on the “weaponization” of the FBI, prompting Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) to confront him with the actual rules.
Needless to say, Jordan was less than pleased.
During this latest hearing pushing the GOP narrative that the FBI is weaponized against conservatives, Jordan told Democrats that “you’re not getting the testimony” of FBI staff operations specialist Marcus Allen, claiming the minority party isn’t entitled to all evidence collected from whistleblowers.
“These are not whistleblowers,” Ranking Member Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) exclaimed. “The law has not determined they are whistleblowers. His attorney is just asserting that.”
Later in the hearing, after initially being shut down by Jordan, Goldman requested a point of order to state the rules, which he noted required transcripts to be made available to all members of committees.
“Where is the whistleblower exception to the rules?” Goldman wondered.
An animated Jordan said it was the “prerogative of the committee to decide” before adding: “We have the whistleblower testimony. The whistleblower does not wish it to be made available to the Democrats at this time!”
Goldman quickly shot back that “the whistleblower doesn’t make committee rules” before Jordan attempted to move on to another committee member, eventually arguing with Goldman a bit more.
This isn’t the first time that Goldman and Jordan have sparred during the subcommittee’s “weaponization” hearings. Back in February, the New York congressman questioned the chairman’s claims that he had “dozens” of whistleblowers lined up, pointing out that Democrats had not been provided with any statements from any of these individuals.
Democrats, meanwhile, have questioned the credibility of Allen as a whistleblower, noting that his FBI security clearance was revoked after expressing support for the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Besides peddling Jan. 6 conspiracies, the other so-called whistleblowers at Thursday’s hearing have also been paid thousands of dollars by Kash Patel, a former Trump administration official.
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