Jim Jordan Refuses to Say Biden Won ‘Fair and Square’ in Fiery Impeachment Debate With House Dem
Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), one of President Donald Trump’s most ardent backers, refused to acknowledge that President-elect Joe Biden won the 2020 election “fair and square” under questioning from a House Democrat.
In a fiery exchange during a meeting of the House Rules Committee Tuesday morning, committee chair Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) grilled Jordan — in an effort to get the Ohio congressman to state that Biden won a fair contest.
“Will you admit that Joe Biden won fair and square?” McGovern asked Jordan. “And the election was not rigged or stolen?”
After a brief audio cutout, Jordan replied by launching into a full commentary — rather than directly answering the question.
“What I did over the past several months is follow the process that the Constitution prescribed,” Jordan said, before McGovern interjected.
“That’s not the question I asked,” McGovern said.
“I’ll get to the question,” Jordan said. “But I’m gonna give you a comment too.”
“I don’t need a filibuster,” McGovern shot back.
Jordan — who, prior to the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, spent the better part of two months amplifying and spreading false claims about election fraud — went on to run around in circles, discussing the process. Undaunted, McGovern pressed on.
“So is that a yes?” McGovern asked.
“Of course it’s a yes,” Jordan replied.
Only, it turned out not to be a yes when McGovern restated his question.
“I’m asking you to make a statement that the election was not stolen,” McGovern said. “That Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won fair and square.”
“No, the question you asked me was, ‘Is Joe Biden … the president-elect,” Jordan said — misstating McGovern’s query. “And I said, ‘Yes he is.'”
“So Joe Biden won fair and square,” McGovern said.
Jordan refused to capitulate.
“He won because the way the process works is the last chance to object is January 6th,” Jordan said. And that objection didn’t prevail.”
McGovern, in light of sudden calls from conservatives for unity after sowing discord for months after the election, spelled out what he deemed to be the importance of Jordan stating conclusively that Biden won a fair election.
“If we want to talk about healing, we have to talk about truth,” McGovern said. “And if we want to talk about healing, we also need to deal with the issue of accountability. … My question was very simple. I’m asking you to make a statement that the election was not stolen. That Joe Biden won fair and square. And you know, one of the ways to promote healing is for you to say, ‘yes,’ and to put that on your Twitter account so that all of the people who bought into a lie will start hearing from some of the people that were pushing this.”
“Joe Biden is going be sworn in as president,” Jordan said.
“That’s not the question I asked,” McGovern replied.
The exchange continued from there — with Jordan again refusing to acknowledge that the 2020 election was on the level.
Watch above, via CNN.
