Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) quizzed Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) over his claims that “dozens” of whistleblowers had come to his office ahead of the Weaponization of the Federal Government committee meeting on Thursday (You can watch a clip of the two below).
The committee aims to look at federal agencies allegedly targeting conservatives, and Jordan claimed Thursday that there are dozens of whistleblowers who describe a “political nature” in the Justice Department.
Jordan chairs the committee that’s been dubbed the “tin foil hat committee” by Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), chair of the House Democratic Caucus.
Goldman, in a tense exchange with Jordan, grilled the Republican on his claims and asked why information ― and testimony ― from the whistleblowers hadn’t been made available to Democrats on the committee.
Jordan, in response, said information from the whistleblowers would be available to Democrats “when they testify,” but Goldman wasn’t having it.
“You don’t have any transcriptions of their interviews?” asked Goldman, who was the lead counsel to the House managers in Donald Trump’s first impeachment inquiry. He won a House seat in November.
“We have the first ones, and we have the dozens who’ve come and talked to our office,” replied Jordan, who added that there will be interviews in the coming week.
“You just said dozens. Do you have notes from those? Or are they just talking to your staff?” Goldman later asked.
Jordan assured Goldman that he and everyone on the committee will be able to access transcripts of whistleblower interviews.
Goldman, however, circled back to bring up Jordan’s claim about the dozens he said his office spoke to.
A person in the committee room said that Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) was there for the interview of the first whistleblower, Mediaite reported.
However, a spokesperson for Cicilline told HuffPost that the lawmaker has not been in any depositions “with any of the so-called ‘dozens of whistleblowers.’”
You can watch Goldman’s back-and-forth with Jordan below.
H/T Mediaite