John Boehner’s Take On ‘Legislative Terrorist’ Jim Jordan Resurfaces As He Gets Closer to Becoming Speaker
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As Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) won over some GOP holdouts on Monday in his bid to become House speaker, an old quote from former House Speaker John Boehner, who is also from Ohio, resurfaced.
Jordan managed to flip four key holdouts early in the day and expressed confidence in his gaining momentum to CNN. “That was really big, so I feel real good about the momentum we have,” Jordan said as he managed to gain the support of House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), along with Reps. Ann Wagner (R-MO), Ken Calvert (R-CA), and Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Republicans who flipped their support to Jordan on Monday, despite past statements indicating they would not do so.
Last Thursday, Wagner was in the “Hell No” camp regarding voting for Jordan for speaker.
“That was really big,” Jordan told CNN about Wagner and Rogers announcing support for him on Monday. “So I feel real good about the momentum we have.”
Critics, however, have been quick to note Jordan’s lack of accomplishments while serving in the House for the last 16 years – particularly the fact he never passed one bill in that time. To make their case, some took to citing Boehner, who in December 2017 pulled no punches when describing Jordan in a Politico interview.
“Jordan was a terrorist as a legislator going back to his days in the Ohio House and Senate. . . . A terrorist. A legislative terrorist,” Boehner declared. In an interview with Tim Alberta, Boehner added, “Fuck Jordan. Fuck Chaffetz. They’re both assholes.”
Alberta summed up Boehner’s issue with Jordan:
His problems with Jordan, the founding chairman of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, run much deeper. To Boehner and his allies, Jordan was the antagonist in the story of his speakership—an embodiment of the brinkmanship and betrayal that roiled the House Republican majority and made Boehner’s life miserable. Although he would tell me in later conversations that he holds no grudges against anyone, today Boehner unloads on his fellow Ohioan.
The Bulwark noted that Boehner doubled down on this criticism of Jordan in April 2021 during an interview with CBS’s John Dickerson, who asked the former speaker about calling some lawmakers “political terrorists.”
“Oh, yeah, Jim Jordan especially, my colleague from Ohio. I just never saw a guy who spent more time tearing things apart—never building anything, never putting anything together,” Boehner replied.
As of Monday evening, Jordan was reportedly 5 to 10 votes from getting the 217 needed to become speaker, according to one GOP member.
