Rep. Jim Jordan said the struggle between the House of Representatives and the Department of Justice is part of a larger show of disrespect from several parts of the executive branch.
During an interview with The Washington Times’ Tim Constantine for “The Capitol Hill Show” on Thursday, Mr. Jordan explained the reasoning behind the decision to file articles of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
“This is the executive branch, people in high levels of the bureaucracy basically telling a separate and equal branch to go take a hike,” Mr. Jordan said, “And it’s not supposed to work that way. That’s not how the Constitution is set up. That not how the system is supposed to operate, so yes, it’s a big problem.”
Mr. Jordan cited several other examples of what he saw as executive agencies resisting orders from Congress. He said this FBI issue is similar to withholding and deleting evidence during the 2014 IRS controversy and Benghazi hearings.
The Ohio congressman filed impeachment articles against Mr. Rosenstein alongside fellow Freedom Caucus member Rep. Mark Meadows and other Republicans on July 25.
Mr. Jordan listed several reasons to Mr. Constantine for the drastic measure, most of them contributing to what he sees as stonewalling from the DOJ. He also mentioned the allegations that Mr. Rosenstein threatened House staffers because of the crackdown from Congress.
One of the main faults Mr. Jordan had with the situation is the use of the Steele Dossier, which he argued was “dressed up as legitimate intelligence.”
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and some other notable Republicans don’t approve of the impeachment play. Mr. Jordan explained that the leadership isn’t in support of the move partly because “they don’t fully understand what we’ve been going through.”
However, Mr. Jordan stood by his choice.
He said that the fight against the DOJ is part of what he wants to highlight in his campaign for Speaker of the House, which he announced just a day after moving to impeach Mr. Rosenstein.
“If you don’t push and threaten consequences you never get anything. They just keep stonewalling,” Mr. Jordan said.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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