At an address to the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) boasted that he has issued more subpoenas than any other member of Congress in a short amount of time (CPAC).
Jordan said on Thursday that we’ve done a number of those before. You estimate this individual’s power to be larger than that of both houses of Congress combined.
Jordan made these remarks a day after sending what he termed his “final” round of letters to a group of U.S. intelligence veterans in connection with an investigation into President Joe Biden’s adult son Hunter Biden, though he did not specify who else may be on his list of prospective targets.
Jordan and Michael Turner (R-OH), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, wrote a letter in October 2020 claiming that 51 former officials “falsely implied” reporting about Hunter Biden was “the product of Russian disinformation,” referring to a laptop that allegedly contained information about his shady business dealings and personal life.
This veteran intelligence officer was sought out by the Republicans when they were in the minority in the House. Jordan and Turner, who have the power to issue subpoenas, have demanded “full” cooperation “immediately” with their requests for records and testimony.
But the letters themselves do not specify a timeframe, Jordan upped the ante by questioning the signatories’ current security clearances during his CPAC speech.
In a definitive statement, Jordan asserted that all “51 former intel officers who signed that letter — that now-famous letter” were in on the deception. I’m willing to bet that everyone in that group has up-to-date security clearances. Why?”
Jordan remarked that this was probably for their benefit. When people think a company has access to sensitive data, they have more faith in that company, which may have positive effects on the company’s finances and reputation. A few of them even serve as on-air analysts for different programs. We shouldn’t let them enter protected regions because of this. Perhaps a change to the law on the part of legislators might accomplish this.
“Papers and testimony are crucial to furthering our examination,” the letters to the intelligence officers stated; but, Jordan’s focus on legislation in the coming months might prove to be a major hurdle.
In a recent incident, a lawyer for Hunter Biden said there was “no legislative purpose” to the committee’s request for evidence. James Comer (R-KY), the committee’s chairman, said in an interview afterward that he still believes the Hunter Biden inquiry is required to find a “legislative solution” to prevent potential financial crises involving future presidents.
Even though the 2020 election took place more than two years ago, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper seemed to go against the grain when Jordan and Turner started sending out the next round of letters last month. James Clapper, a former director of the CIA and current adviser to President Trump, alleged that POLITICO “deliberately” twisted their message by classifying the item as “Russian disinfo” in the title.
The laptop “had all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,” according to the 2020 statement, while the authors emphasized that they had no proof of Russian assistance and did not know if the emails circulating at the time were authentic. POLITICO has maintained after the remarks were publicized, that it stands by its reporting.
The number of signatories who are willing to publicly support the 2020 statement is decreasing. During a conference last week focused on counterintelligence, a Washington Examiner writer voiced doubts about the statement’s capacity to increase public trust in the intelligence community and, by implication, to bring attention to foreign influence activities.
Former CIA analyst and manager David Priess, who moderated the panel, said, “It is not crucial to the counterintelligence of foreign players.” Priess signed his name on Hunter Biden’s laptop confession. When none of the other two talkers, both of whom were active-duty federal counterintelligence officers, responded to Priess’s interruption with “We’re okay,” Priess changed the subject.
During the past two years, some of the information on the laptop has been verified for validity. Hunter Biden’s lawyers have been writing to state and federal authorities for weeks, pleading with them to look into who leaked the laptop’s contents to the media. The communications do not “confirm,” according to his lawyer Abbe Lowell, that his client’s laptop was taken.
Investigators from the United States, including lawmakers from Congress, are examining Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings and tax records. Although having previously stated that he expected to be exonerated after a lengthy inquiry, Hunter Biden revealed the existence of the probe after the 2020 election.