Durham report shows Congress must target FBI budget: Jim Jordan
Rep. Jim Jordan tells 'Hannity' that agency appropriations are 'the only leverage we have' for reform.
While contending that the results of Special Counsel John Durham's report into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation prove rampant FBI politicization, one top Republican suggested it may be time to leverage the "power of the purse" to force reform.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Fox News on Monday that the Durham probe's findings are only the latest example of the leftward, pro-establishment bent of the FBI and other key alphabet agencies.
On "Hannity," he responded to host Sean Hannity's contention that the Justice Department is "weaponized more than ever" and that the Democratic Party controls the federal bureaucracy.
"Think about it," Jordan replied. "In 2016, it was the Clinton campaign working with the FBI to go after President Trump and his [campaign.]"
John Durham, Donald Trump, and Hillary Clinton (Associated Press)
"In 2020, it was 51 former CIA agents and intel officials working with the Biden campaign to do the same thing. So we've seen it twice now. [For the first] one, it was the FBI. The second one, it was former intel officials – but the same objective to go after President Trump and keep him from being president."
Jordan said the report revealed a trusted source came to the FBI under then-Director Jim Comey and told them it appeared the Hillary Clinton campaign fabricated some of the allegations themselves, but the bureau dismissed the evidence and targeted Trump anyway.
With the legislature unable to effect change at the managerial or occupational level of the executive branch agencies, Jordan said Congess must use the most potent power it has to keep the FBI within the confines of its established apolitical mission.
"The only way we can hold them accountable is to go at the one thing that everybody cares about: the money. We have to look at the appropriations. That's the only leverage we ultimately have in Congress," he said.
Jim Jordan, R-Ohio (ALEX WROBLEWSKI/AFP via Getty)
Jordan said if Republicans or conservative agency heads were involved in anything like what Durham was probing, those in question would be held to account.
While President Biden told the graduating class at Howard University in the District of Columbia over the weekend that "White supremacy" is the biggest threat to the homeland, Jordan said the dynamic he sees as a danger to democracy is when federal agencies "behave like this FBI did."
Jordan said the Clinton campaign was essentially the origin of the unverified dossier compiled by former MI6 spy Christopher Steele, adding that when it was taken to the FBI, it was basically amplified by the press as veritable.
"When we try to tell the truth, they call us names. They call us ‘Russian sympathizers’… And the press is so eager to do that. And then ultimately, in the end, the one thing that is always proven right is: we were right about [it] all along," he said.
"The only thing we had wrong is in both situations it was worse than we thought. So we've got to keep talking about it. We've got to pass legislation, if we can, to deal with it. And then we have to look at the money, the appropriations and say, ‘How can we direct these funds? How can we better position these funds? What can we do to stop this from happening in the future?’"
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