Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Photo by SUSAN WALSH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 1:18 PM PT – Wednesday, June 16, 2021
GOP representatives grilled both the Department of Justice and Democrats in the Capitol for down playing potential voter fraud and violence at the Capitol. Republicans in the House have held the DOJ and Washington D.C. Democrat’s feet to the fire over their role in the events leading up to the January 6 breach.
On Tuesday, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) derided former acting U.S. Attorney General Jeff Rosen at a House committee on oversight and reform hearing. Just hours before, emails were released that showed Rosen dismissing requests by White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows for an investigation into voter fraud allegations during the 2020 elections.
Rosen reportedly called the requests “pure insanity” to another top DOJ official and said he wouldn’t respond to Meadows. Democrats responded to the emails by claiming the Trump administration repeatedly pressured the DOJ to look into election irregularities.
74,000,000 Americans stood with @realdonaldtrump in this election and he will not forget them. We are fighting to the end.
Count every LEGAL vote and stand up to corruption!
— Mark Meadows (@MarkMeadows) November 30, 2020
“Let’s look at what the White House Chief of Staff said. He sent an email to Mr. Rosen, the acting Attorney General, ‘can you have your team look into these allegations of wrongdoing?’” he explained. “Wow, a lot of pressure there.”
Jordan went on to argue there is a major problem when the White House Chief of Staff asks fellow members of the Executive Branch to take action and they “basically give him the finger.”
In addition, Rep. Glen Higgins (R-La.) took Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and local Washington D.C. officials to task over her preparation leading up to January 6. Higgens went on to say, “You’d had to be living under a rock in America to not know that there was potential for violence, riot and mob behavior on January 6.”
Higgens stressed that Capitol police were notified before January 6 about potential violence at the Capitol due to the boiling tensions over the results of the 2020 elections. He cited an FBI report sent out to local officials the day before, which warned them of people traveling to the Capitol prepared for war.
How do you incite a riot that was already going to happen?
-Pipe bombs were placed near the Capitol before President Trump’s speech.
-The FBI knew about potential violence before the speech.
-Capitol Police requested help from the National Guard days before the speech.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 11, 2021
However, Higgens pointed to Bowser’s reconsideration of calling on the National Guard to defend the Capitol building.
“December 31 she had one tone when she requested the cooperation of the D.C. National Guard,” he explained. “…On January 5 Mayor Browser of D.C., who is deeply connected with my Democratic colleagues here in this body, she had a change of heart.”
The Louisiana Republican quoted a letter from Bowser where she nullified her request to deploy the D.C. National Guard. Bowser reportedly said there were enough unarmed guardsmen patrolling the area to work traffic and crowd control.
Higgins vows to investigate why the Democrat mayor chose to cancel her request. He wonders if there was any correspondence between the Democrat mayor and House Democrats leading up to the event.
