WHAT JIM JORDAN WOULD HAVE SAID. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously banned Republican Rep. Jim Jordan from the new select committee to investigate the Capitol riot. So when the committee met for the first time on Tuesday, Jordan was nowhere to be seen. But it turned out he was still attending a meeting of a select committee — the select committee on the coronavirus crisis. Pelosi, who said Jordan's presence would diminish the "integrity" of the Capitol riot committee, apparently did not feel he would have the same effect on the COVID-19 committee, of which he is a member. The hearing topic was "Oversight of Pandemic Evictions: Assessing Abuses By Corporate Landlords And Federal Efforts To Keep Americans In Their Homes." Jordan, like other Republicans, objected to the premise of the session. He said the government's COVID-19 eviction halt was too broad and too expensive. He said the committee should instead devote its investigation to the origins of the virus. Democrats in the majority, led by Chairman James Clyburn, stuck to their chosen topic.
But it was good to have an opposition viewpoint, someone who challenged the choices made by the committee's leadership. And that's what Jordan, and his fellow Republicans, did on the coronavirus committee. And that's what he was banned from doing on the Capitol riot committee. So on Tuesday night, when both hearings were over, I asked Jordan what he would ..............
