Tipsheet

Jim Jordan Threatens to Hold FBI Director Chris Wray in Contempt

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  July 18, 2023 3:15 PM

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) had quite the busy Monday. He sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about concerns with censorship with Threads, though that's not the only news about Zuckerberg. Sources confirmed to Townhall that Jordan is considering holding Zuckerberg in contempt, as early as next week. Later that same day, Jordan also sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, threatening to hold him in contempt if he does not turn over documents related to the bureau's targeting of parents voicing their concerns at school board meetings or its move to infiltrate Catholic Churches.

As the July 17 letter to Wray explained, the Committee had issued subpoenas on February 3 and April 10 looking for documentation about the FBI's targeting of parents and Catholics, respectively. 

"To date, the FBI's compliance with these subpoenas has been wholly inadequate and has materially impeded the Committee’s oversight efforts. After several accommodations, months of persistent outreach by the Committee, and attempts to negotiate and work with the FBI in good faith, we write to notify you that if the FBI does not improve its compliance substantially, the Committee will take action—such as the initiation of contempt of Congress proceedings—to obtain compliance with these subpoenas," the letter warned. 

Back in 2021, it was revealed that the Biden administration had colluded with school board associations to target parents as "domestic terrorists," something Attorney General Merrick Garland has sought to cover up. Whistleblowers not long after came forward to reveal that the FBI had created a "threat tag" to track parents. 

In February of this year, a leaked memo from the Richmond FBI field office revealed that the bureau was looking to target and infiltrate Catholic Churches for "new avenues for tripwire and source development," something that Garland also misled on. The DOJ has been overall cagey on the matter and is now facing a lawsuit from CatholicVote and Judicial Watch. 

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Jordan mentioned the FBI targeting concerned parents and Catholics during his opening statements of last Wednesday's hearing for oversight of the bureau. 

Astonishingly, when being questioned by Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) about the FBI's targeting of parents, Wray refused to speak to whether or not Garland should apologize for how parents were treated. When asked if he "would apologize for the FBI's own role," Wray responded that "I think the FBI conducted itself the way it should here."

Jordan had a particularly memorable exchange with Wray during that hearing, as he lambasted the director for his targeting of Catholics.

During that exchange, Jordan pointed out that the copy of the memo that they received had several redactions, and wanted to know "when can we get a copy that doesn't have all these redactions on it, so we can actually see what the American taxpayers were paying for to their rights, their religious liberty rights attacked?"

Jordan's letter also mentions Wray's testimony. "And in your testimony before the Committee on July 12, you only stated that you would 'find out' if the FBI  could produce a less redacted version of the memorandum while the internal investigation is pending," it read.

As was mentioned in the letter and during the committee hearing, the FBI is conducting an internal review, which Wray fell back on so as to avoid having to speak to a motivation for that memo to Jordan. 

The FBI has by July 25 "to substantially improve its compliance with the subpoenas," before "the Committee will take action, such as the invocation of contempt of Congress proceedings, to obtain compliance with these subpoenas."

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) had considered holding Wray in contempt last month, but ultimately backed down after the FBI allowed committee members to view documents and receive a briefing.

In response to these threats of contempt, an FBI spokesperson offered to the New York Post that the outlet plans to cooperate. "The FBI recognizes the importance of congressional oversight and remains fully committed to cooperating with Congress’s oversight requests consistent with its constitutional and statutory responsibilities," the spokesperson said.

Jordan is also continuing his deep-dive investigation into government censorship. On Tuesday, he sent letters to Big Pharma companies Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Merck to find out there was coordination to censor speech, in the name of determining what constituted "misinformation."