Over the course of the past year, congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, has engaged in a systematic effort to cast doubt on the integrity of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. He also led efforts to create an image in the minds of Trump supporters of Jan. 6 as the “ultimate date of significance” (his words, repeated several times). He helped spearhead the effort to oppose certification of the election in Congress. He has continued to promote the “Big Lie” even after the events on Jan. 6 and subsequent FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warnings that this conspiracy is propelling domestic violent extremists.
What follows is a comprehensive Timeline of Rep. Jordan’s public statements (in Congress, in public, on social media, and in media interviews) and his known activities related to the presidential election and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The following fifteen highlights are from the Timeline below.
Congressman Jordan took the following actions:
- Suggested Democrats will try to steal the election (starting Aug. 22, 2020)
- Suggested and directly alleged the election was stolen (starting Nov. 5, 2020)
- Endorsed Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell’s call to investigate Dominion and Smartmatic (starting Nov. 15, 2020)
- Called for immediate congressional investigations of alleged election fraud (starting Nov. 18, 2020)
- Endorsed state legislators’ picking their own electors (starting Dec. 7, 2020)
- Said Trump should not concede (starting Dec. 7, 2020)
- Started public call to object to certification on Jan. 6 (starting Dec. 13, 2020)
- Supported call for “special counsel” to investigate alleged election fraud (starting Dec. 10, 2020)
- Called Jan. 6 the “ultimate date of significance” (Dec. 16, 2020)
- Met with President Trump and small group of House Republicans to coordinate plans to object to certification on January 6 (Dec. 21, 2020)
- Raised Trump supporters’ expectations by saying he hoped a majority of Congress will object on January 6 (Jan. 5, 2021)
- Helped lead the effort to vote against certification on January 6 (starting Dec. 13, 2020)
- Called for Trump supporters to remain peaceful, but does not say to disperse (Jan. 6, 2021 3:02 PM)
- Made false claims about Speaker Pelosi and security preparations for January 6 (starting Feb. 15, 2021)
- Revealed for the first time that he spoke with President Trump on Jan. 6 (July 28, 2021)
This course of conduct arguably sets Rep. Jordan apart from every other Republican member of Congress who supported the Big Lie, voted to object to the certification of the election, or engaged in other related activities.
Jordan’s impact on broadcast and social media is extraordinary. He is a frequent guest on Fox News, as well as Newsmax and OAN, and advanced false claims about the election on all three networks. Of the 147 Republican members of Congress who opposed the certification of the election, Jordan was “the most prolific Fox guest,” according to an analysis by Media Matters, a non-profit organization that monitors conservative misinformation. He fielded close to 10% of all appearances by those GOP members since January 6. And while Jordan lost nearly 150,000 Twitter followers in a post-January 6 purge of accounts associated with the QAnon conspiracy, the most of any Republican lawmaker, he retains more than 2 million followers. Many of his tweets have been shared more than 10,000 times and liked over 50,000 times.
On or before Jan. 4, President Donald Trump reportedly decided to award Rep. Jordan the Medal of Freedom. On Jan. 11, Jordan received his Medal of Freedom at the White House in a ceremony with no media present.
The following Timeline includes public domain material compiled by groups including Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s (D-CA) staff in its Social Media Review of statements related to January 6, published in March 2021; additional social media research by Advance Democracy, Inc. (ADI), a non-partisan, non-profit organization that conducts public-interest research & investigations; a chronicle of media appearances compiled by Media Matters; and additional research by the authors. If you think we have missed any key information, please notify us by sending an email to lte@justsecurity.org.
Timeline: Rep. Jim Jordan, the Systematic Disinformation Campaign, and the January 6 Attack
August-November 2020
Rep. Jordan repeatedly claims that Democrats are attempting to “steal” the election.
August 22, 2020: Rep. Jordan claims on the House floor that Democrats seek to create chaos in the 2020 election using mail-in ballots.
On the floor of the House, Jordan says “imagine what the Democrats want to do, throw live ballots out there to everyone,” and “imagine what they want to do, 150 million ballots thrown out, live ballots, that’s what the Democrats want, imagine what that’s going to be like.”
August 24, 2020: Rep. Jordan, in remarks during a hearing with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, hypothesizes that Democrats raised concerns about changes to post office operations because they want to create chaos with mail-in ballots and “want to keep counting” ballots after election day.
“Might it be that they actually want to wait and count votes after election day? Maybe they want six weeks after the election — maybe they want to be counting votes six weeks after the election, the Presidential election, the biggest election we’re gonna have… the chaos and confusion…. Maybe that’s what they want?” He goes on to argue “we know what this is about. We all know what this is about. This is about these guys wanting chaos and confusion because I think they know this, I think they know on election night President Trump is gonna win, they know on the vote count on election day President Trump is gonna win, and they want to keep counting.”
September 17, 2020: Rep. Jordan says that Democrats are trying to jeopardize the security of the 2020 presidential election.
On the floor of the House, Jordan claims that Democrats are trying to jeopardize the security of our election, comparing them to “the Russians.” He says “Democrats are trying to win the election after the election.” He cites a Pennsylvania lawsuit where Democrats argued election boards must allow voters to cure minor errors (an argument that was struck down by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that day, even as it sided with Democrats to extend the state’s absentee ballot deadline and approved of the use of mail-in ballot drop boxes) as well as a Nevada law which regards un-postmarked ballots received three days after the election as valid.
September 23, 2020: Rep. Jordan warns his followers that “Democrats are trying to win the election after the election!” He urges, “We can’t let them steal it.”
On Twitter, Jordan circulates a link to a Republican House Judiciary report on election integrity, which alleges that “Democrats are seeking to change state election laws and procedures at the last minute to advantage themselves in the 2020 election cycle.” The report claims that Democrat-led changes to voting procedures will lead to irregularities and will “diminish safeguards” in the electoral process. It asserts that mail-in voting will lead to a number of administrative errors and mail-in election crimes.
September 23, 2020: Rep. Jordan urges the Senate to confirm a Supreme Court nominee quickly in case Democrats attempt to “rig this game and win the election.”
In an OAN interview, Jordan says that it is important to quickly nominate and confirm a Supreme Court justice to solidify a conservative majority. He says that’s needed because Democrats are attempting to “win this election after the election,” it is important to get a conservative justice confirmed quickly to ensure the Court votes the “right way if the Democrats try to rig this game and win the election, as I said, after the election takes place.”
September 25, 2020: “We can’t let Democrats steal the election,” Rep. Jordan tweets.
Jordan links to a Wall Street Journal Editorial Board opinion piece, titled “The GOP Lawsuits Fight Back,” describing a Republican Minnesota lawmakers’ federal lawsuit seeking an injunction against an election consent deal.
Additional context: A federal judge ultimately upheld the deal, and “rejected a variety of the plaintiffs’ claims, including their assertion that it would dilute the value of their own votes by counting ‘unlawful’ ballots after Election Day,” according to the Associated Press.
October 9, 2020: Rep. Jordan spreads disinformation about mail-in ballot procedures.
In an interview on a Glenn Beck podcast, which Beck opens by saying “we’re going to lose the republic if Donald Trump loses, and all of these things that have been going on over the last four years remain in place, we don’t have a real republic anymore,” Jordan responded to anecdotes Beck shared referencing claims by the former Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Richard Grenell — who emerged as a key promoter of false and misleading claims about the election. Here, Grenell’s claims supposedly (it’s not clear) were about one individual who allegedly received ballots for his deceased parents and another person who had received mail-in ballots for individuals who had moved states. Jordan says, “It’s happening,” in apparent reference to Grenell’s allegations of election fraud, and warns that “there is potential for mischief [in mail-in ballots].” “That is exactly what is going to happen in Pennsylvania, that is scary stuff,” he says.
October 19, 2020: Rep. Jordan tweets that “Democrats are trying to steal the election after the election. Chief Justice Roberts is letting them do it.”
Jordan tweets this in response to a Supreme Court decision decided the same day where Chief Justice Roberts joined the more liberal members of the Court to allow Pennsylvania to count ballots received up to three days after election day.
November 2020: In the days and weeks immediately after the election, Jordan claims the election was fraudulent and makes repeated calls for an immediate congressional investigation into the results.
November 3, 2020: Election Day
November 5, 2020: Rep. Jordan attends a Stop the Steal rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania following the election, two days before the state was called for Biden.
November 5, 2020: Rep.Jordan, along with Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), state that they are “fighting,” in part, for President Trump. Rep. Jordan calls into question the continually increasing vote share for Biden in the process of counting ballots.
In a Fox Business interview with Lou Dobbs, Jordan and Perry say that they are fighting for the American people, election integrity, and President Trump. Over footage of the protest that includes Stop the Steal protestors and QAnon imagery, Dobbs asks why other Republicans have not asked the Justice Department to engage. Jordan says “Lou, I think Chris Wray I think is too busy investigating the Trump supporters in their pickup trucks that were escorting Biden bus a few days ago, but I know one thing, Scott Perry, myself, and lots of other Americans are out fighting for this President, as you said, for making sure that this election is fair, that only legitimate and legal votes are counted — we want all those counted — but they gotta be legitimate, they gotta be legal, that’s the ones we want counted, not illegitimate votes, not ones that come in after the election without a distinguishable postmark date on the envelope the ballot arrived in, that’s craziness, so we’re out there fighting, and I know there’s lots of Americans that are doing the same, we were at a rally today where we saw them.”
Perry questions results in counties that did not permit observers, suggesting he has no confidence in those counties where votes “all of a sudden” came in for Biden. Jordan asks, “why is it that it’s always Democrat-run cities and swing states that have all kinds of problems and take days and days and days to get us the vote count?”
Additional context: As explained above, the trend of increasing vote share for the Democratic candidate is easily explained by the fact that votes from Democratic-leaning urban areas take longer to tally, a phenomenon known as the “blue shift.”
November 6, 2020: Rep. Jordan claims that the election situation “is worse than we thought.”
In a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity, Jordan cites his prior warnings in the September GOP House Judiciary report on election fraud and mail-in voting. He claims that Pennsylvania election practices were contrary to state law, Justice Alito’s order requiring separation of ballots received after 8 p.m. on election day, and — in a likely reference to lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign — the decision of the Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore. Jordan alleges a number of irregular election practices, including denying access to poll watchers, inconsistencies among counties regarding ballot curing, and allowing votes to come in after the election. He claims that “this is the first time in American history where you have a party systematically set out to win an election after the election…. and it has to be stopped.”
Additional context: Twitter later flagged Jordan’s tweet sharing this interview for making a disputed election fraud claim. Republican claims about Pennsylvania election practices were found to be “based on outright falsehoods.”
November 6, 2020: Rep. Jordan tweets that a Supreme court decision ordering county boards in Pennsylvania to segregate mail-in ballots is the “first win for election integrity.”
November 6, 2020: on Facebook, Rep. Jordan tweets a story about the discovery of additional ballots in Pennsylvania.
November 7, 2020: Media outlets call the election for Joe Biden.
November 9, 2020: Rep. Jordan tweets “Why don’t Democrats want to know the truth about ballot integrity in Pennsylvania?”
November 9, 2020: In a tweet, Rep. Jordan questions “[w]hy did Pennsylvania Democrats exclude poll watchers during the vote count?”
Additional context: Twitter flags this tweet as a disputed election fraud claim. President Trump made similar allegations about Pennsylvania poll watchers, which have been proven false.
November 10, 2020: Rep. Jordan accuses Democrats of causing election “chaos and confusion.”
Jordan quote tweets the House Judiciary GOP’s clip of his August 24, 2020 remarks where he claimed that Democrats want “chaos and confusion” because “[t]hey know that on Election Day, President Trump’s going to win.” In the tweet, he claims that “We tried to warn you. The Democrats knew what they were doing and ignored us.”
![A tweet by Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) on November 10, 2020 at 9:56am reads, “We tried to warn you. The Democrats knew what they were doing and ignored us.” He retweets a tweet from the House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) from November 10th reading, “August 24, 2020. ‘This is about [the Democrats] wanting chaos and confusion… They know that on Election Day, President Trump’s going to win, and they want to keep counting – six weeks, four weeks…’ -@Jim_Jordan” A video of Jim Jordan speaking in a Congressional hearing is included.](https://i0.wp.com/www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Jim-Jordan-11.10.2020-Tweet.png?resize=600%2C797&ssl=1)
November 10, 2020:
Jordan suggests that Pennsylvania election practices were illegitimate and asks, “Why did Pennsylvania Democrats pre-canvass votes in liberal areas, but not let Republicans do the same?”
Additional context: Twitter flags this tweet for making a disputed claim about election fraud. In reality, Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled legislature prevented counties from canvassing votes before election day, while Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar encouraged counties to begin doing so as early as possible under state law.
November 10, 2020: Rep. Jordan urges a vote “audit” and claims that mail-in ballots are “a recipe for disaster.”
In a Newsmax TV interview, Jordan references the September GOP report expressing concerns of potential election fraud, and repeats the allegation that a member of his staff had received four ballots at their home for individuals who no longer lived there. He claims these inconsistencies are evidence that mail-in ballots are a “recipe for disaster … a recipe for cheating, a recipe for fraud.” He says he is not stating definitively that fraud took place, but that it should be investigated since “we’ve got all these irregularities around the country in key states.”
November 10, 2020: Rep. Jordan attacks the legitimacy of mail-in voting, and implicitly ties it to voter fraud.
In a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity, Jordan alleges “unequal treatment of voters” in Pennsylvania as some counties allowed ballot curing, satellite voting offices, or pre-canvassing, while others did not. He claims that “72 million Americans instinctively know something’s not right here” and that we need to “get to the bottom of this.”
November 11, 2020: Rep. Jordan falsely claims that deceased individuals submitted ballots in some states, and makes a variety of claims about other forms of alleged voter fraud.
In a Fox News radio interview, Jordan alleges the existence of evidence that deceased individuals voted in some states.
Additional context: These claims have been debunked numerous times.
Jordan again mentions inconsistencies in Pennsylvania election practices, calling it some of “the most egregious stuff I’ve ever seen” and stating that differences between county practices may violate the Fourteenth Amendment.
“When you got 72 million people who think something doesn’t smell right, something needs to be investigated here, something doesn’t look right, it doesn’t feel right, it is not good just to say we got to move on, can’t look at that. Don’t look behind the curtain here. Nothing to see here. That’s a problem.” Jordan suggests it does not make sense that Trump lost. “They picked up seats in the House. They won all these state legislatures. They kept all those. The Senate stayed red. The pollster said they were going to lose everything. They’re going to lose the Senate. They want to lose a bunch of seats in the House. And all this happens. Donald Trump gets nine million more votes and he comes up short? Yeah, come on. Something doesn’t sit?”
November 11, 2020: Rep. Jordan says, “Democrats … knew President Trump was going to win on election night, but they wanted to keep looking for and finding and counting ballots until they got over the top.” He says that’s why there needs to be an investigation.
In a Newsmax TV interview, Jordan repeats that he has suspicions about mail-in voting and alleges that an individual in his office received additional ballots addressed to people no longer living at that mailing address. He references the September Republican Committee Report report warnings and claims Democrats “knew President Trump was going to win on election night, but they wanted to keep looking for and finding and counting ballots until they got over the top.” He calls for an investigation.
November 14, 2020: Rep. Jordan falsely suggests that Democrats rigged 6,000 votes in Michigan.
In a Fox News interview with Jeanine Pirro, Jordan falsely states, “6,000 votes in Michigan went for Biden but they were actually supposed to go for President Trump.” He says there are “seventy-three million people who think something doesn’t feel right here and that’s why they want to investigate.” He references the September GOP report, and claims that Republicans knew Democrats wanted “chaos and confusion” in order to win the “election after the election.” He repeatedly questions why Democrats do not wish to investigate the election results.
“You have all these affidavits, all these concerns… all the important swing states that took a several hour pause in the count, the President ended up losing — why did that happen?” Jordan asks. “They spent four years investigating this fake Russia thing, but they can’t even spend four weeks to get at the integrity of the American election system?”
November 15, 2020: Rep. Jordan endorses investigations into election fraud including Giuliani and Sidney Powell’s allegations against Dominion voting systems and Smartmatec software.
In a Fox News interview with Maria Bartiromo, Jordan says, “It’s important we get to the bottom of exactly what happened in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, all these key swing states.” Addressing Rudy Guiliani and Sidney Powell’s investigation into Dominion voting systems and Smartmatic software, he says that it should be allowed to “play out” and “ask the key questions,” like “why on election night it seemed like every state that kept counting, President Trump won. But all the states that halted counting for a while, he wound up losing…. Why don’t Joe Biden and the Democrats want to find out?”
Note: Jordan’s interview with Bartiromo is included in the Complaint that Smartmatic files against Fox News and Bartiromo for defamation.
November 16, 2020: Rep. Jordan claims that there is evidence of voter fraud in Georgia.
In a Fox Business interview with Lou Dobbs, Jordan claims additional irregularities and evidence of voter fraud. He says that “today in Georgia… two counties… just shazam, we found votes, we had missing memory cards.” He says the solution to understanding these allegations is to allow the investigations and lawsuits regarding the 2020 election to play out.
Additional context: Such claims about election fraud in Georgia have been thoroughly debunked.
November 18, 2020: Rep. Jordan says that election officials “keep finding votes in the Georgia recount” and criticizes the ongoing vote counts in New York, California, and Iowa.
Additional context: While some additional votes were indeed discovered during the Georgia recount, this has been attributed to human error during the initial count. California and New York had both been known to take a particularly long time to count votes since long before the 2020 election.
November 18, 2020: Rep. Jordan accuses Democrats of hypocrisy for proclaiming the integrity of the election.
November 18, 2020: In a letter to Chairs of two House committees, Rep. Jordan along with Rep. James Comer (R-KY) calls for immediate congressional investigations into alleged election errors during the 2020 election.
In a letter to Chairman Nadler of the House Judiciary Committee and Chairwoman Maloney of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Representatives Jordan and Comer urge the creation of an immediate congressional investigation into “allegations of actual election errors and misconduct.” They cite to the Republican Committee Staff Report which warned that Democrat led changes to election processes would lead to election-related crimes and errors, claiming that Democrats have “ignored this report, [and] many of our predications [sic] have unfortunately come true.” In support of their claim, they point to the Pennsylvania state Supreme Court decision which extended the deadline of receipt for mail-in ballots to three days after Election Day, California legislation which “required … an all-mail election” that allegedly led to errors where individuals received multiple ballots, and results from recent Georgia audits where thousands of allegedly uncounted ballots were found. During this time, the Trump campaign also had filed a number of lawsuits in key battleground states.
November 18, 2020: Rep. Jordan claims that three counties in Georgia “hadn’t even counted thousands of votes,” and casts doubt on Dominion voting systems.
During a Fox News interview, Jordan claims that three counties in Georgia “hadn’t even counted thousands of votes.” He repeats claims that votes were found in Georgia during a Newsmax interview that same day. During the Newsmax interview, he also casts doubt on the Dominion voting systems.
Additional context: This appears to be a reference to an initial miscount that was subsequently corrected.
He states it is important to “let the process play out” and to “see what happens in the legal cases, see what happens with the recounts, with the audits.” He also raises uncertainty about the electoral integrity of those states which “halted the count for a while and then picked it back up,” in contrast with those that did not, like Ohio and Florida.
Additional context: A Politifact investigation determined that none of the battleground states halted their vote counts on election night.
November 19, 2020: Rep. Jordan questions the motives of Democrats by asking why won’t they agree to a congressional investigation into the 2020 election.
November 19, 2020: Rep. Jordan claims that over 5000 ballots were found in Georgia that had never been counted. He again calls for a congressional investigation.
In a Fox News interview, Jordan repeatedly states the need for a congressional investigation, pointing to the 2,300 ballots ruled invalid by a Pennsylvania judge and the 5,000 ballots discovered during the Georgia recount.
Additional context: The Pennsylvania decision was later overruled by the state Supreme Court, while the Georgia ballots were found to have initially been uncounted due to human error, as noted above.
Jordan claims that “someone is casting ballots in a manner that were originally counted as OK and valid that it turns out weren’t.” He attacks Democrats as hypocritical, arguing that because they spent four years on the “fake Russian hoax” and a year and a half on the “fake impeachment,” they should be able to spend four weeks on an election investigation.
November 22, 2020: Rep. Jordan questions the integrity and motives of Democrats by asking, “why are Democrats afraid of an election audit?”
November 25, 2020: Jordan raises suspicions on the votes in California and New York by noting that they are still counting votes three weeks after the election.
November 27, 2020: Rep. Jordan says, “What happened in Pennsylvania is an embarrassment to our electoral system.” He adds, “The American people deserve answers.”
In the same tweet, Jordan praises Republican Pennsylvania legislators for “stepping up” to investigate irregularities in the Pennsylvania 2020 election, referencing a memorandum the Republican Pennsylvania legislators had filed that day.
In the memorandum, the legislators state that they will release a resolution to recognize the “substantial irregularities and improprieties” during the 2020 election, declare that the “selection of presidential electors and other statewide electoral contest results in this Commonwealth is in dispute,” urge the Secretary of the Commonwealth and the Governor to “withdraw or vacate the certification of presidential electors and to delay certification of results in other statewide electoral contests,” and urge Congress to “declare the selection of presidential electors in this Commonwealth to be in dispute.”
November 30, 2020: Jordan questions the integrity and motives of Democrats by suggesting they don’t want to double check signatures on ballots.
December 2020
Rep. Jordan continues to appear on television and social media to raise claims of election fraud and call for an investigation. He also begins to advocate for state legislators to select electors, and for members of Congress to challenge the election results on January 6, 2021.
December 1, 2020: Rep. Jordan repeats concerns over the continued vote counts in California and New York.
December 1, 2020: Rep. Jordan casts doubt on the election results and points to allegations of election irregularities. “Something doesn’t feel right,” he says.
In a a radio interview with Sean Hannity, Jordan boasts President Trump’s gains with minority voters and Republicans’ gains in the House, and pushes alleged eyewitness accounts of election irregularities: “So we know there’s something and then we have all these people coming forward willing to swear under oath that this is in fact, you know, crazy things that happen.”
December 1, 2020: Rep. Jordan says that there are eyewitness reports of election irregularities.
In a Fox Business interview with Lou Dobbs, Jordan claims that there were a number of irregularities, documented through eye witness reports and affidavits, that need investigating. He alleges the media is covering up the truth and reiterates the need “to exhaust every possible avenue we can find to get to the truth.” He argues that the outcome of the election is suspicious given that President Trump received more votes than he did in the 2016 election.
December 2, 2020: Rep. Jordan pushes concerns about the integrity of Dominion voting systems.
In a Newsmax TV interview, Jordan argues for investigating Dominion voting systems. He claims that there were “anomalies that took place in the wee hours of November 4th, where these votes came back in … and they were overwhelmingly for Vice President Biden,” which, in his view, “just don’t make sense.”
Additional context: As explained above, this trend is easily explained by the fact that votes from Democratic-leaning urban areas take longer to tally, a phenomenon known as the “blue shift.”
December 3, 2020: Rep. Jordan shares an article claiming election concerns are justified.
In a tweet, Jordan shares a November 27 article from the Spectator World claiming that election concerns are justified, citing the divergence of the 2020 election from trends of past presidential elections. “It doesn’t make sense, “Jordan comments. “This is why we need an investigation into the integrity of the election.”
Additional context: The article’s claims have been thoroughly debunked. The author of the piece, who has been accused of faking his credentials, had previously written a November 7 column alleging voter fraud, which was also later debunked and retracted.
December 3, 2020: Rep. Jordan says the outcome of the election “doesn’t make sense” and urges further investigation of voter fraud claims.
In a Fox Business interview, Jordan states “I think there’s problems with this election. How does the President get 11 million more votes, we win all 27 seats of the toss up seats in the House, every bellwether county the President wins with the exception of one, we increase state legislatures, we pick up big seats in the House of Representatives, as I said before, Hispanic American vote and African American vote for the President goes up, and yet he doesn’t win? And he loses to a guy who would have a rally where there were 55 people, the President would have a rally where there were 55,000 people, I mean, it doesn’t make sense, nothing makes sense, and that’s why 74 million Americans instinctively know something’s not right with this, and that’s why we need to keep investigating it and figure it out.”
“This is not good for the country,” he continues. “You think about this. Of the 74 million voters who supported President Trump, over 70% of that number believe this election was stolen. That’s 50 some million people in this country. That’s 1/3 of the electorate. That is not a healthy situation for the country, so for that reason alone, we should continue to investigate this election and find out exactly what happened.”
When pressed on whether there is sufficient proof of election fraud to overturn the outcome, Jordan says, “We’ll just have to see, but what I do know is that dozens and dozens of people have come forward, been willing to sign an affidavit, swear under oath that what they are saying is true, talking about all the crazy things, all the fraudulent things they saw take place in key states in our election process, I think that warrants a full investigation. We still have 11-12 days until the Electoral College meets so let’s play it all out and get to the truth.”
December 4, 2020: Rep. Jordan urges an investigation into election integrity based on the claim that “Over 50 milllion Americans think this election was stolen.”
December 4, 2020: Rep. Jordan urges an investigation “to get to the bottom” of election fraud claims, citing 66 individuals who had testified about fraudulent election practices, over 200 signed affidavits and declarations, and a new video allegedly showing Georgia votes being counted without poll watchers at the State Farm Arena.
Jordan repeatedly asks, “why don’t Democrats want to get to the answers? And why don’t Democrats want to investigate?” He says that over one third of the electorate believes that the election was rigged and argues that “when you have one third of the people who participated in a national election, presidential election, who think it was false, you had better exhaust every avenue you have to get to the truth.”
Additional context: The claims related to the video at the State Farm Arena are later debunked, but not before former President Trump refers to the video at a rally in Valdosta, Georgia on December 5th. The Trump campaign’s affidavits, though numerous, have not faired well in court.
December 6, 2020: Rep. Jordan claims that alleged inconsistencies in mail-in voting were the reason that “Joe Biden got the numbers he did” and changes in voting procedures in some “key swing states… took the election from the President.”
In a Newsmax TV interview, Jordan repeats claims of voter fraud and election fraud during the 2020 election. “I think there are problems with this election,” he says, and suggests it is implausible that Trump lost based on voting shares in different districts and Trump’s support from different voting groups. He also says, “What I do know is dozens and dozens of people have come forward, been willing to sign an affidavit … talking about … all the fraudulent things they saw take place in key states.”
December 7, 2020: Rep. Jordan endorses re-checking signatures on mail-in ballots.
December 7, 2020: Rep. Jordan says that Trump should not concede the election, and suggests contesting the Electoral College count on January 6.
In response to a question from CNN about whether Trump should concede, Jordan responds, “No. No way, no way, no way. We should still try to figure out exactly what took place here. And as I said that includes, I think, debates on the House floor — potentially on January 6.”
December 7, 2020: Rep. Jordan attacks mail-in voting regulations set by Pennsylvania municipalities and calls for an investigation into the state’s election results.
In a Fox News interview, Jordan claims that voters were sent multiple mail-in ballots, and that the rejection rate for mail-in ballots was implausibly low. He emphasizes that state legislatures can appoint their own electors, and expresses his hope that the Supreme Court would overturn a ruling by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania that blocked an effort by Republican lawmakers to toss out the state’s 2.6 million mail-in ballots. He also attacks Georgia Governor Brian Kemp as an example of an elected official standing in the way of investigating mail-in ballots.
December 8, 2020: Rep. Jordan calls for an investigation “to find out exactly what took place in this election,” and praises litigation efforts to overturn the election results.
In an Newsmax TV interview, Jordan applauds Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to invalidate the presidential election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and to remand the appointment of electors to those states’ Republican-controlled state legislatures.
Jordan also criticizes Georgia Governor Brian Kemp for refusing to “allow us to recheck the signatures’” on ballots.
December 8, 2020: Rep. Jordan criticizes New York’s protracted election count, accusing election officials of “finding” new ballots.
December 8, 2020: Rep. Jordan calls for an investigation “to find out exactly what took place in this election,” and praises litigation efforts to overturn the election results.
In an Newsmax TV interview, Jordan applauds Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to invalidate the presidential election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and to remand the appointment of electors to those states’ Republican-controlled state legislatures.
Jordan also criticizes Georgia Governor Brian Kemp for refusing to “allow us to recheck the signatures’” on ballots.
December 9, 2020: Rep. Jordan says, “I don’t know how you can ever convince me that President Trump didn’t actually win this thing based on all the things you see.”
In a Fox News Radio interview, Jordan says:
“We have a third of the electorate who thinks the election was stolen. Now whether they’re right or not, I think there are big problems with this. I don’t know how you can ever convince me that President Trump didn’t actually win this thing based on all the things you see, the eleven million more votes. He won nineteen-to-twenty bellwether counties. He won Ohio by eight, Iowa by eight.
But the simple fact is, when you have over seventy percent of the seventy-five million who voted for President Trump, think the election was rigged. That’s fifty-some million people, over a-third of the electorate. That is a very, very unhealthy situation for our country. And if for no other reason than those fifty-some million who think there’s a major problem with this election, we should do everything we can to get to the bottom of. It’s not healthy to play this short game, this Twitter game, and not think about the long term impact of some of this stuff.”
December 10, 2020: In a tweet, Rep. Jordan accuses Democrats of hypocrisy for rejecting voter fraud claims.
December 11, 2020: Rep. Jordan appears to endorse a special counsel investigation into election irregularities and characterizes the election results as implausible.
“Nothing squares with what we know and historically what’s happened,” Jordan says in a Newsmax TV interview. He also reiterates his praise for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit to overturn election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and express his desire that more states should join the lawsuit.
Question: “I definitely wanted to ask you about the election so I’ll take the opportunity. What do you think about the calls for a special counsel?:
Jordan: “I’m for that. I’m for a special counsel to look into the whole Hunter Biden situation. Obviously Durham has been given the designation of special counsel so he can continue to do his work on the Trump Russia investigation. I think we need all those to get to the bottom of some of these major stories.”
December 13, 2020: Rep. Jordan calls for objections to be made and a “debate” in Congress on January 6.
In a Fox News interview, Jordan once again calls for an investigation into the election results, and argues for objecting to the certification of electors in the House and Senate on January 6: “If you have one Senator, one Representative object to certain electors from respective states being seated, you can have a debate, I think we owe it to the American people to have that debate.”
December 16, 2020: Rep. Jordan says several members of the House are willing to step forward and he calls for an investigation into the election results and a “full debate” on the House floor on January 6.
In a Newmax TV interview, Jordan says, ”I think you are going to see several members of the House who are willing to step forward” to challenge the election results on January 6. Paraphrasing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, he says that January 6 is “the ultimate date of significance.”
He goes on to say that January 6 could be an opportunity to showcase claims of election fraud: “The mainstream press hasn’t covered these hearings that took place in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, all these different states, this would be a chance for the country to see all the things, all the crazy things, that took place in the course of this election.”
December 18, 2020: Rep. Jordan reiterates his call for an investigation into the election results and a “debate on the House floor.”
In an OAN interview, Jordan also reiterates claims of Democratic hypocrisy, citing the Steele dossier and FBI investigation of Hunter Biden.
December 21, 2020: Rep. Jordan reportedly joins a meeting with former President Trump at the White House to discuss a “last stand” attempt to overturn the election results in Congress on January 6.
According to POLITICO, Jordan joined other House Republicans in meetings with Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Trump’s legal team. The three meetings lasted over three hours and concerned “the planning and strategy for January the 6th,” according to Rep. Mo Brooks, who reportedly spearheaded the effort.
December 30, 2020: Rep. Jordan criticizes the delayed election count in New York’s 22nd congressional district in a tweet, characterizing it as an “election integrity” issue.
December 31, 2020: Rep. Jordan shares and endorses an article calling for Congress to challenge the election results on January 6.
In the Article, published on The Blaze, Mark Levin writes:
“The 2020 presidential election was, in several targeted battleground states, an unconstitutional electoral exercise. Even putting aside evidence of significant fraud, virtually none of which received a hearing by our courts, events leading up to and including the November national election constituted a radical and grave departure from the federal electoral system adopted by the framers of the Constitution and the state ratification conventions. Now, let’s be clear: None of this matters to the Democrat Party, since it and its surrogates perpetrated these unconstitutional acts, as I shall soon explain. Nor does it matter to the media, which is utterly illiterate on the subject and unequivocally supports the supposed outcome in any event. But it should be of great moment and concern to the people of this country and especially to congressional Republicans in both Houses, for if the latter do not at least confront and challenge this lawlessness on January 6, when Congress meets to count the electors, it will be the GOP’s undoing and, simultaneously, the undoing of our presidential electoral system. Ultimately, it will be the people of the United States who love our republic who will be the losers.”
December 31, 2020: Rep. Jordan taunts congressional Democrats to debate “election integrity.”
January 1-5, 2021
Jordan drums up publicity around Congressional Republicans’ efforts to object to election certification on January 6, calling for supporters to “fight for President Trump.”
January 3, 2021: Rep. Jordan previews a plan to challenge election certification on January 6.
Jordan joins Rep. Mo Brooks for a Fox News interview previewing House Republicans’ plan to object to certifying electors from six states. He calls January 6 the “ultimate date of significance,” and Congress the “ultimate arbiter” of the election results. He also claims that Democrats intentionally created “chaos and confusion … around mail-in voting … because they were going to win the election after the election.”
Meanwhile, the House Judiciary GOP tweets a call for a “hearing to examine the integrity of the 2020 election.”
January 3, 2021: Rep. Jordan defends the certification challenge in a tweet accusing Democrats and the media of hypocrisy.
January 4, 2021: Rep. Jordan calls for Republicans to “unite and fight for President Trump” on January 6.
In a Fox Business interview, Jordan reiterates congressional Republicans’ plans to object to election certification on January 6, pointing to “unconstitutional” changes to state election laws and alleging voter fraud. “I wish that Republicans, our party, would unite and fight for President Trump and the Constitution in the exact same manner that he’s fought for us over the last four years,” he says. “The American people deserve to hear the truth on Wednesday.”
January 4, 2021: “It’s time for us to fight”
In a Newsmax TV interview, Jordan reiterates his arguments for why congressional Republicans should object to election certification on January 6, and previews how those objections will proceed in the House and Senate: “We have yet to have a real airing of the unconstitutional fashion in which these elections were held, the fraud that took place on top of [that] … So that debate is going to happen in, I think, a very robust way on January 6.”
He also calls for Trump supporters to “fight” for the President: “He has fought for us, the American people . . . It’s time for us to fight for him and the Constitution.”
January 4, 2021: A news report says that Rep. Jordan will receive the Medal of Freedom from President Trump.
January 4, 2021: Rep. Jordan accuses state Democratic officials of unconstitutionally changing election laws.
In a Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham, Jordan claims that Democratic officials at all levels of state government unconstitutionally changed election laws: “You had Secretaries of State, you had Governors, you had state supreme courts dominated by Democrats, you had county commissioners and county clerks, they all changed the election law … I hope we convince enough people not to seat the Electors from states that held elections in an unconstitutional fashion.”
January 4, 2021: Rep. Jordan tweets an Epoch Times article about his effort to challenge Electoral College votes.
January 5, 2021: Rep. Jordan attacks “liberal judges” and state officials for their role in the election.
January 5, 2021: Rep. Jordan shares his speech on the House floor casting doubt on the validity of the election results and accusing Democratic officials of unconstitutionally changing election laws, and once again referring to January 6 as the “ultimate date of significance.”
“Somehow Joe Biden, the guy who barely left his house, won the election? Maybe? Maybe? But 80 million Americans … have their doubts. And 60 million people think the election was stolen … Why won’t [Democrats] look into it? Why no hearings? Why no investigations? I think it’s because deep down, deep down they know there were big problems with this past election … Tomorrow the Constitution will be defended and the American people will see the truth … The ultimate date of significance is January 6th, and tomorrow the citizens of this great country will see why.”
January 5, 2021: Rep. Jordan accuses Democrats of voter fraud and a “pattern” of unconstitutionally changing election law that he says caused Trump’s loss.
In a Fox Business interview with Lou Dobbs, Jordan once again claims that, “There was fraud on top of the unconstitutional way [Democrats] ran the election.” He singles out Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger for criticism, accusing him of unconstitutionally changing election law by “enter[ing] into a settlement agreement” with Stacey Abrams, whom he inaccurately describes as “head of the Democrat Party.”
He then accuses Democrats of committing voter fraud after changing election procedures: “And then once they got that done, then they added fraud on top of it. And that’s why President Trump wasn’t elected President. And we’re going to show that and talk about that tomorrow.” When asked whether he is “absolutely convinced” that Democrats committed voter fraud, he responds, “Certainly fraud.”
January 5, 2021: Rep. Jordan attacks state officials for purportedly changing election rules, and pushes claims of voter fraud.
In a Newsmax TV interview, Jordan characterizes changes to state election rules as basically corrupt, and alludes to reports of voter fraud: “In all these states that we will object to tomorrow, someone outside the legislature, that went around the legislature, and changed the election rules. And the reason they had to go around the legislature, is that they were controlled by Republicans, so they sued in friendly court, they got a hack Secretary of State who had changed the rules at the last minute. That’s how they did this, and then on top of that, you have the fraud that’s been talked about over the last nine weeks.”
Additional context: Among other falsehoods as identified above, Jordan here also appears to misrepresent a March 2020 consent decree that imposed new procedures for evaluating signatures on absentee ballot envelopes.
January 5, 2021: Rep. Jordan calls for members of Congress “to do their duty” on January 6 by objecting to election certification. He says, “We hope it’s a majority” who will act to stop certification.
In a Fox News interview, Jordan accuses state officials of supposedly changing election rules unconstitutionally, and calls for Congress to overturn the results in those states: “There is only one remedy left. It is for the United States Congress to do their duty, and that’s what I plan to do tomorrow, and so do several others, I think hundreds of my colleagues tomorrow,we hope it’s a majority, so that we can actually then have the United States Congress have the final say on this.” Jordan says “the Constitution was not followed.” The Fox News chyron reads, “GOP Members Attempt to Prevent Biden Presidency.” Jordan says “We have an obligation as the final check and balance in this process to stand up for the Constitution and stand up for the President.”
January 6, 2021
In the morning, Jordan praises the attendees at the Ellipse that says “the future of this country” is at stake on this day. He praises the attendees of the rally and continues to support the protestors into the early afternoon when rioters are violently clashing with police but before rioters breach the Capitol building.
Later in the afternoon, Jordan follows President Trump’s lead and calls for an end to the violence. Many (including reportedly inside the White House) raise concerns that Trump’s tweet does not call on the rioters to leave the building. Jordan’s tweet closely tracks Trump’s tweet.
8:23 AM, January 6, 2021: Prior to the rally on the Ellipse, Rep. Jordan praises the attendees and says that “the future of this country” is at stake.
In a Fox News interview, Jordan casts the stakes of the day’s events in existential terms: “If this doesn’t happen, we don’t have this debate and prevail, what they said about the future of this country, the Constitution in our country that is what is ultimately at stake. And those people who are at this rally they get that. That’s why they are here.”
8:52 AM, January 6, 2021: Rep. Jordan tweets, “It’s about the Constitution.”
11:54 AM Rep. Jordan posts a tweet of his video interview on Fox News earlier that morning.
1:02 PM, January 6, 2021: Rep. Jordan repeats by tweet that January 6 is “the date of ‘ultimate’ significance.”
The House Judiciary GOP Twitter account shares his tweet, noting “Today’s the day. #JAN6”.
Approximately 1:15 PM, January 6, 2021: As rioters scuffle with Capitol police officers outside the building, Rep. Jordan takes to the House floor to object to certifying Arizona’s electors.
Rep. Jordan appears at timestamp 12:24 in this C-Span recording, where he repeats his claim that “ Americans instinctively know there was something wrong with this election,” accuses officials in six states of unconstitutionally altering election rules, and calls for Congress to “do our duty … and vote for this objection to the Arizona electors.”
1:43 PM, January 6, 2021: Rep. Jordan’s speech is shared to his twitter account. Outside, rioters continue to violently clash with police officers.
A minute later, the House Judiciary GOP twitter account quote tweets Jordan’s account, adding “Americans] instinctively know something was wrong with this election.”
2:11 PM: Rioters breach the West side of the Capitol building.
2:13 PM: The Senate is called into recess.
2:16 PM: The House is called into recess.
As reported by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker in their book, I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year, Rep. Liz Cheney confronts Jordan as members of Congress scramble to safety: In speaking with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, she reportedly says, “That son of a bitch.… While these maniacs are going through the place, I’m standing in the aisle and he said ‘We need to get the ladies away from the aisle. Let me help you.’ I smacked his hand away and told him, ‘Get away from me. You fucking did this.’”
2:38 PM: President Trump addresses the rioters in a tweet: “Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!”
2:45 PM: Rep. Jordan posts to Facebook a video of his Floor speech.
3:02 PM, January 6, 2021: Nearly an hour after rioters first break into the Capitol building and 24 minutes after President Trump’s tweet, Rep. Jordan calls for peace.
Additional context: Many (including reportedly inside the White House) raise concerns that Trump’s tweet does not call on the rioters to leave the building. Jordan’s tweet closely tracks Trump’s tweet.
Post January 6, 2021-present
In remarks in Congress and to the media, Rep. Jordan absolves President Trump of responsibility for the events of January 6, and continues to push doubts about the election results. He continues to cast Democrats as hypocrites, and attacks their efforts to investigate the January 6 attack as partisan. On July 28, 2021, Jordan confirms that he spoke to President Trump by phone at least once on January 6, but claims not to remember when.
January 10, 2021: Rep. Jordan distances the Republican Party from Capitol rioters, whom he equates with those who committed violence committed during Black Lives Matter protests.
In a Fox News interview, Jordan says: “People are responsible for their actions, and these terrible actions that were taken, they need to be held accountable, prosecuted to the full extent of the law, one thing about this Maria — Republicans have been consistent. Last summer when terrible things were happening we called for ending the violence and prosecuting the people who destroyed property and attacked police officers and attacked private citizens. We’ve said the same thing about the terrible things that took place here in our nation’s Capitol last Wednesday.”
January 11, 2021: President Trump awards Rep. Jordan the Presidential Medal of Freedom (see Jan. 4 news report of decision to make the award).
In a statement, the White House lauds Jordan for, among other things, “work[ing] to unmask the Russia hoax and take on Deep State corruption,” and leading “the effort to confront the [2020] impeachment witch hunt.”
Additional context: There are no media in attendance at the private ceremony- at the time, Trump had not appeared in public since January 6.
January 11, 2021: Rep. Jordan accuses social media platforms of threatening civil liberties by “cancelling” President Trump.
In a Fox News interview, Jordan says, “If they can cancel a president, with the second impeachment and what they’ve done to the president with the social media platforms, if they can cancel a president, imagine what they can do to the 75 million people who supported President Trump in this election.”
January 12, 2021: Rep. Jordan claims he never said the election was stolen, while refusing to say that the election was not stolen.
During a remote House session, Jordan claims, “I’ve never said that this election was stolen.” A CNN fact-check explains why this is highly misleading (See also entries for dates Nov. 11, Dec. 6, Dec. 9.)
Jordan then responds to Rep. Jim McGovern’s challenge to acknowledge that “Joe Biden won fair and square,” by saying “[Biden] won the election because the way the process works is the last chance to object is January 6th, and the objection didn’t prevail.”
January 13, 2021: Rep. Jordan pushes doubts about election integrity on the House floor during debate on Trump’s second impeachment.
In a speech on the House floor, Jordan defends the effort to overturn the election results through congressional objections to certification. He paints Democrats as hypocrites: “Democrats object to more states in 2017 than Republicans did last week, but somehow we’re wrong?”
January 13, 2021: Rep. Jordan attempts to distance congressional Republicans from the attack on the Capitol.
In an OAN interview with Sean Hannity, Jordan says, “What happened last week was terrible, it was tragic, it’s as wrong as wrong can be…. Republicans, we know all political violence is wrong, all the time. We condemned it last summer, we condemned it last week.”
January 20, 2021: Rep. Jordan criticizes the impeachment effort by characterizing it as a Democratic “obsession,” and referencing the conspiracy theory that the FBI spied on then-candidate Trump.
In a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity, Jordan says: “We all know, we’ve talked about this for years, they started going after him on July 31st, 2016 when the FBI set up their Crossfire Hurricane investigation and spied on President Trump and his campaign and four Americans, and they continue this obsession with going after the president even after he’s now left office.”
January 21, 2021: Rep. Jordan says “We had all kinds of strong evidence that they changed the rules for the election.”
In a Newsmax interview, Jordan says the rioters on Capitol Hill need to be prosecuted. But, he says the act of objecting to the Electoral Certification was appropriate. “They were saying somehow just the fact that we objected, that was somehow wrong…We had all kinds of strong evidence that they changed the rules for the election.”
January 25, 2021: Rep. Jordan defends Trump from accusations of inciting the Capitol attack.
In a Fox News interview, Jordan asks, “How do you incite a riot that was already planned? … And how can you charge the president with inciting violence at the Capitol when he told people at the rally to peacefully and patriotically make their voices heard?”
Additional context: Jordan is referencing a particular line from Trump’s speech at the Stop the Steal rally: “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” Despite that language, Trump arguably provoked his followers to storm the Capitol in the same speech, and was reportedly “pleased,” even “delighted,” by the subsequent scenes of violence.
January 27, 2021: Rep. Jordan says “Democrats knew they couldn’t beat President Trump without changing the rules.”
In a Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham, Jordan says Democrats changed election rules in several states “in an unconstitutional fashion.” He says “Democrats knew they couldn’t beat President Trump without changing the rules.”
January 29, 2021: Rep. Jordan accuses Democrats of engaging in censorship and cancellation of Republicans.
In a Fox News interview, Jordan accuses Democrats of preventing “75 million Americans… [from] exercis[ing] their First Amendment liberty,” and ties this to the second Trump impeachment process.
February 2nd, 2021: Rep. Jordan defends Trump’s role in the January 6 attack.
In a Newsmax TV interview, Jordan defends President Trump by pointing out that attacks were planned before January 6, and that bombs were planted the day before.
February 3rd, 2021: Rep. Jordan draws equivalency between the January 6 attack and the George Floyd protests.
In a Fox News interview, Jordan repeats his criticisms of the impeachment effort, and accuses Democrats of directly inciting violence during the George Floyd protests.
Additional context: Read USA Today’s Fact check: Democrats have condemned violence linked to BLM, anti-fascist protests
February 5, 2021: Rep. Jordan defends Trump’s role in the January 6 attack.
In an OANN interview, Jordan defends Donald Trump’s actions on January 6, asking again, “How do you incite a riot that was already planned? How do you incite a riot when you tell the people at the rally to peacefully and patriotically make their voices heard?”
February 9, 2021: Rep. Jordan defends Trump’s role in the January 6 attack and denounces the impeachment effort.
In a Fox News op-ed, Jordan defends Trump and Republicans’ role in the January 6 attack, and repeats his false claim that Democrats have not been consistent about condemning political violence. He writes:
“We all agree that the events on January 6, 2021, were as wrong as wrong can be. Every American has the right to peacefully protest. But there is no place for political violence of any kind – whether in Washington, D.C., or in Portland, Ore. Republicans have been consistent in denouncing acts of political violence. Democrats have not, and now they are casting political blame for what happened at the Capitol. President Trump did not incite the violence of January 6.”
February 10, 2021: Rep. Jordan defends Trump’s role in the events of January 6.
Jordan appears in a video with Rep. Andy Biggs. Referencing footage of President Trump’s January 6 speech at the Ellipse and of the Capitol attack played at the impeachment trial, Jordan defends the President’s speech by emphasizing Trump’s call to “peacefully” protest.
Additional context: As noted above, that ignores both the rest of Trump’s speech and his initial response to the violence.
February 15, 2021: In a tweet, Rep. Jordan falsely blames Speaker Nancy Pelosi for delaying the National Guard’s response to the January 6 attack.
Additional context: See fact checks by Washington Post (four Pinocchios), Associated Press, CNN, and New York Times.
February 24, 2021: Rep. Jordan questions the integrity of the 2020 election and warns that Democrats intend to make things worse.
In a Fox News interview, Jordan criticizes Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger for refusing to question the state’s election results, and warns that Democratic voting rights bill H.R. 1 “is going to federalize all of the problems we saw in this past election.”
February 24, 2021: Rep. Jordan calls for a Congressional investigation into the 2020 election.
In an OANN interview, Jordan once again questions the integrity of the 2020 election, calling for a formal Congressional investigation into the matter: “This is a question we need answered, because going forward, the American people need to know, whatever you think about the outcome of the election, there are millions and millions of Americans who have serious doubts — and that includes Democrats — so for that reason alone, we should do an investigation to get into this, and frankly, the Supreme Court should have looked at this case.”
February 27, 2021: Rep. Jordan shares an article on Facebook suggesting Speaker Pelosi had a role in delaying the National Guard response on January 6.
March 23, 2021: Rep. Jordan accuses Democrats of “trying to overturn a certified election in the state of Iowa.”
In a Fox News interview, Jordan condemns the prospect that congressional Democrats might choose to adjudicate a disputed House election in Iowa that was ultimately decided by six votes, accusing them of engaging in the same conduct that House Republicans undertook on January 6.
March 29, 2021: Rep. Jordan endorses Donald Trump for President in 2024.
Appearing at CPAC, Jordan says, “And I hope on January 20th, 2025, he is once again the leader of our great country.”
May 13, 2021: Rep. Jordan denies that he claimed the 2020 election was stolen.
In a CBS interview, Jordan simultaneously points to widespread doubts about the integrity of the election while minimizing his own role in propagating them: “There are millions of Americans who have concerns about what happened in this last election. I’ve never said this election was stolen. All I’ve said was, ‘Let’s check it out!’”
May 20, 2021: Rep. Jordan appears to confirm that he talked to President Trump on January 6 but objects to testifying to a January 6 commission.
In comments reported by the Washington Post, Jordan proclaims his innocence and denounces the idea of a commission: ”I think this commission is ridiculous, and why would they subpoena me? I didn’t do anything wrong — I talked to the president,” Jordan says. “I talk to the president all the time. I just think that’s — you know where I’m at on this commission — this is all about going after President Trump. That seems obvious.”
June 15, 2021: Rep. Jordan rejects the notion that the Trump Administration pressured the DOJ to investigate voter fraud claims.
In remarks to the House Oversight Committee, Jordan turns the matter on its head suggesting that Congress should instead investigate why the DOJ did not follow orders. He states, “When the Chief of Staff to the President of the United States asks someone in the Executive Branch to do something, and they basically give him the finger, I think that’s the problem we should be looking into.”
July 21, 2021: At a news conference with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Jordan falsely claims that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was responsible for security at the Capitol on January 6.
“Why wasn’t there a proper security presence at the Capitol that day, they’re not going to address that” Jordan said. He added, “Only one person can answer that question. Only one. The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.”
Additional context: See fact checks by Washington Post (four Pinocchios), Associated Press, CNN, and New York Times.
July 21, 2021: Rep. Jordan shares an article about Speaker Pelosi rejecting him for the January 6 select committee.
July 27, 2021: Appearing to reference phone calls between himself and President Trump on January 6, Rep. Jordan denies that either bear any responsibility for the Capitol attack.
““I didn’t do anything wrong – I have nothing to hide,” says Jordan in an ABC interview. “I’d be happy to talk to whoever wants to talk, but what I’m saying is the witnesses who should be called are the people who can answer [questions about the security posture at the Capitol on January 6] … I have had a countless number of conversations with President Trump … But none of those conversations dealt with anything that would be in any way wrong … Of course [former President Trump] isn’t responsible.”
July 27, 2021: Rep. Jordan appears to confirm he spoke with President Trump by phone on January 6.
In a Fox News interview, Jordan appears to avoid saying whether he spoke to Trump that day. When asked directly, he responds, “Yes. I mean I’ve talked to the President so many – I can’t remember all the days I’ve talked to him. But I’ve certainly talked to the President.”
Additional context: A Republican member of the House Select Committee, Rep. Liz Cheney, D-MO, says Jordan should be called before the committee as a “material witness”.
July 28, 2021: Rep. Jordan confirms that he had at least one phone call with President Trump on Jan. 6, but claims to remember neither the exact number nor time(s).
In a Spectrum News interview, Jordan explains, “I spoke with [President Trump] on January 6 … I spoke with him that day, after [the attack]? I think after. I don’t know if I spoke with him in the morning or not. I just don’t know… I don’t know when those conversations happened.”
August 2, 2021: Rep. Jordan denounces the January 6 select committee as partisan.
In a Fox News interview, Jordan once again accuses Democrats of hypocrisy, implying that they indulged violence during the George Floyd protests: “We’re the ones who’ve been consistent. We condemned the violence on January 6 and we condemned all the violence last summer. Democrats are the ones who’ve been inconsistent. You’re right, this is all about politics.”
August 23, 2021: Rep. Jordan claims he never said the election was stolen.
Speaking before the House Rules Committee, Jordan accuses Rep. Joseph Morelle (D-NY) of rejecting the 2016 election results, before denying that he himself ever rejected the 2020 results:
Jordan: “You didn’t accept 2016.”
Morelle: “No I did accept it actually, Mr. Jordan, and I’ve never been on national TV suggesting that I shouldn’t accept the result of any election whether I agree with it or disagree with it.”
Jordan: “I haven’t either. I haven’t either.”
August 29, 2021: Politico confirms a second phone call between former President Trump and Rep. Jordan on Jan. 6
According to an unnamed source, Politico reports Rep. Jordan was joined on for the call with Trump by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
“Look, I definitely spoke to the president that day. I don’t recall — I know it was more than once, I just don’t recall the times,” Rep. Jordan told Politico’s Olivia Beavers when pressed for details on the call with Gaetz, adding later that one of the calls took place while he was with fellow lawmakers in a safe room in the Capitol.