Jim Jordan to take aim at DOJ ‘weaponization’ in panel’s first hearing
Virginia Aabram
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Firebrand Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is zeroing in on the alleged politicization of the Justice Department on Thursday after the Washington Examiner exclusively revealed testimony from former FBI agents.
The new select subcommittee will meet for its first hearing at 12 p.m., where it will air out a yearslong grievance against the DOJ — that the agency has pursued an agenda of silencing conservatives on topics ranging from school boards to the Hunter Biden laptop story.
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Jordan, who also chairs the overarching Judiciary Committee, will lead the hearing as it features testimony from former FBI agents and current and former lawmakers. Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI), the ranking member, will call witnesses to support the Democratic position.
Hours ahead of the hearing, the Washington Examiner published testimony from two former FBI agents set to speak before the committee. The ex-agents, Thomas J. Baker and Nicole Parker, are slated to criticize sharply what they view as the FBI’s transformation into a partisan agency they say has targeted the public and their constitutional rights, testimony shows. “Americans have lost faith in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, an institution they once regarded as the world’s greatest law enforcement agency,” Baker said in testimony. “I spent many years with the FBI and am deeply troubled by this loss of faith.”
Parker, an FBI agent between 2011 and 2022, will outline how her interpretation of the FBI radically changed due to the bureau’s “priorities and governing principles” being “shifted dramatically,” according to a copy of her testimony obtained by the Washington Examiner.
“The FBI became politically weaponized, starting from the top in Washington and trickling down to the field offices,” she said.
The hearing is expected to get heated. Another conservative firebrand, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), was quietly tapped last week to take over Rep. Chip Roy’s (R-TX) spot after he reportedly dropped the panel due to demanding positions on two other committees.
The first round of witnesses will feature ex-Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI) and Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA). Both senators have experience with government accountability: Johnson is the top Republican on the investigations subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Grassley previously chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee. Gabbard was a Democrat during her time in Congress but left the party to become an independent last year.
The second round will feature Baker and Parker as well as George Washington University Law professor Jonathan Turley.
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Baker will take aim at former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who was special counsel in the investigation into alleged Trump-Russia collusion, as well as the FBI’s targeting of ex-Trump adviser Carter Page, according to his testimony. Parker will claim that the FBI has shifted its “recruiting practices,” in part by lowering eligibility requirements, something she says is “negatively impacting the agency’s performance.”
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This first hearing is set up to establish the committee’s goals and start laying out the problems Republicans see in the federal agencies; it will not follow any specific line of inquiry.