Rep. Jordan to Newsmax: Panel Will Press Clintons Beyond Epstein in Depositions

House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said on Newsmax, Wednesday, that he expects Bill and Hillary Clinton to comply with congressional subpoenas as House Republicans pursue testimony related to inquiries into Jeffrey Epstein records.

But he indicated that questioning will also revisit other matters, including the origins of the 2016 Trump-Russia investigation.

"Well, I do think they're going to cooperate," Jordan said on "Ed Henry: The Big Take," adding, "I do think they're going to come in."

Jordan said they may be weighing whether "this Justice Department actually holds them in contempt for failing to show up when they were subpoenaed by the United States Congress."

The federal contempt of Congress statute makes it a misdemeanor to willfully disobey a congressional subpoena, with penalties of a $100 to $1,000 fine and jail time of one month to 12 months.

The referral statute says the House speaker or Senate president certifies the facts to the appropriate U.S. attorney, "whose duty it shall be to bring the matter before the grand jury."

A Congressional Research Service legal sidebar says the Justice Department has asserted its discretion over contempt referrals and notes that since 2008, the House has made 10 criminal contempt referrals, with DOJ seeking indictments in two cases.

Jordan suggested his panel will range beyond Epstein. "I think there's some questions that aren't necessarily directly related to the whole Epstein matter that are pretty important," he said. "And we will ask them all kinds of questions."

Turning to Hillary Clinton, he tied his planned line of questioning to what he called a longer-running dispute.

"Remember, it was 10 years ago, started with the Clinton campaign," Jordan said, adding, "this whole weaponization of government targeting of President [Donald] Trump."

"But it started with the dossier that was paid for by the Clinton campaign," Jordan said.

He then linked it to federal surveillance authorities. Jordan said the Steele dossier, compiled by Christopher Steele, was "used by the [James] Comey FBI as the basis to spy on the other party's campaign, namely President Trump."

"So I think we are going to have accountability," he said.

On the GOP focus on the Steele dossier, a memo released in February 2018 by House Intelligence Committee Republicans, Jordan said the dossier "formed an essential part" of the Carter Page FISA application.

He added that Steele was retained through intermediaries on behalf of the Democratic National Committee and the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign.

Page served as a foreign policy adviser connected to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

A Justice Department inspector general report issued in December 2019 said investigators obtained information in January 2017 that "raised significant questions about the reliability of the Steele reporting" used in the Page FISA applications to conduct electronic surveillance, treating him as a possible agent of a foreign power in the context of Russia-related counterintelligence work.

GET TODAY NEWSMAX+:

NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America with more than 30 million people watching!

Reuters Institute reports NEWSMAX is one of the top news brands in the U.S.

You need to watch NEWSMAX today.

Get it with great shows from Rob Schmitt, Greta Van Susteren, Greg Kelly, Carl Higbie, Rob Finnerty – and many more!

Find the NEWSMAX channel on your cable system – Go Here Now

BEST OFFER:

Sign up for NEWSMAX and get NEWSMAX, our streaming channel NEWSMAX2 and our military channel World at War.

Find hundreds of shows, movies and specials.

Even get Jon Voight’s special series and President Trump’s comedy programs and much more!

Watch NEWSMAX on your smartphone or home TV app.

Watch NEWSMAX anytime, anywhere!