Do What You Said You Would Do

Fighting for Freedom in the Swamp

Jim Jordan

• Publisher: Post Hill Press
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781637581469
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: American Government
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Get an inside look at the detailed investigations of the United States Congress, the groundwork for Donald Trump's win in 2016, and the events that occurred during his successful four years as president. When I woke up on October 2, 2020, I figured it would be like most Fridays in DC. Congress would finish up the week with a few votes on the House Floor and then members would rush to Reagan National Airport to catch a flight home. Polly and I had a mid-afternoon flight; however, we weren't headed home. We were going to Wisconsin to help a colleague raise funds and to attend the President's rally in Green Bay…. As I started to put on my workout gear before heading to the House gym, I took a look at my phone. I noticed I had several text messages and missed phone calls from Russell Dye, the top media staffer for our personal office and for Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee. Some of the calls and messages were from after midnight…. I called him right away. "What's going on?" I asked. He responded, "Sir, the president has the virus!" I turned on the TV. It was the only story.… I had traveled to Cleveland with the president three days earlier—I knew I'd have to quarantine until I got tested. I'd been tested before the flight to Cleveland, but that wouldn't matter now. I'd have to get a new test. No workout this morning, no flight to Wisconsin this afternoon…. First things first. I was scheduled for a Fox and Friends interview that morning in the eight o'clock hour. I grabbed a quick shower and then headed to the office to prep for the interview. We were supposed to discuss the election and how the president was doing in Ohio. But we knew the only topic would be the president contracting the virus…. An hour later I got tested in the House physician's office.… On that drive home Polly and I talked about all that had transpired that morning. We talked about the president and first lady, and like millions of other Americans, we prayed for their health and for our country. Over the weekend I thought about that day—that one day—Friday, October 2, 2020: it was really a picture of the entire year. 2020 was about the virus and the presidential election. 2020 was all about politics.

CHAPTER 1

THE PRESIDENT GETS COVID

When I woke up on October 2, 2020, I figured it would be like most Fridays in D.C. Congress would finish up the week with a few votes on the House floor, and then members would rush to Reagan National Airport to catch a flight home. Polly and I had a midafternoon flight; however, we weren’t headed home. We were going to Wisconsin to help a colleague raise funds and to attend the president’s rally in Green Bay. It was thirty-two days until the election, and I was determined to get to as many swing states as possible in the closing days of the campaign. In the previous few weeks, I had been to Florida, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, doing events for Republican colleagues who had a serious challenge or for Republican candidates challenging a Democrat incumbent. On each trip, I was encouraging our fellow citizens to not only help our Republican House candidates but to also do everything they could to help the president.

I told anyone who would listen that this election was about one question: Can America remain America? In other words, can the values, principles, and institutions that make America special—that make America the greatest county ever—be preserved? Today’s Democrat Party believes America is bad, and therefore, they want to fundamentally change our nation. President Trump and the party he leads believe America is good. Not perfect. But good. America is a country made up of regular and flawed people who all need God’s grace, and principles such as freedom and the rule of law provide the foundation for American excellence.

America is not a county that destroys our monuments and forgets our history. We are not a country who cowers in the face of a virus.

“We the People” of the United States of America set goals and work hard. When we do, our families, communities, and country get better. Over the past four years, we’ve had a president accomplish and do more of what he said he would than any other president in my lifetime. We’ve had a president who said he’d cut taxes and did—the largest in American history. A president who said he’d cut regulations and did. A president who said he’d get out of the Iran deal and did. A president who said he’d put our embassy in Jerusalem and did. A president who said he’d take it to the terrorists and did—terrorists such as Soleimani and al-Baghdadi. A president who said he’d build the wall and did—350 miles of it. And a president who loves America and its people and puts their interests first as he fights for them every day. This was the message I was looking forward to sharing with the good folks in Green Bay, Wisconsin the next day.

As I started to put on my workout gear before heading to the House gym, I looked at my phone. I noticed I had several text messages and missed phone calls from Russell Dye, the top media staffer for our personal office and for Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee. Some of the calls and messages were from after midnight.

I’m probably a little biased, but I believe Russell is the best media person on Capitol Hill. He coordinates all media interactions for our office and for House Judiciary Republicans. He does social media for the committee, and he handled the bulk of the press operations during the impeachment proceedings in 2019. He is smart, works hard, and loves sports—my kind of guy. I talk with Russell several times a day, but I don’t ever recall an occasion where he called and texted me multiple times after midnight. Something was up.

I called him right away. “What’s going on?” I asked.

“Sir, the president has the virus!” he responded.

I turned on the TV. It was the only story. Nothing else was being discussed. In fact, over the next several days, this was almost the only issue the press covered. It seemed the mainstream press—fake news—was almost giddy about the fact that President Trump had COVID. Some people on social media appeared more than just a little giddy. A few actually said they hoped the president didn’t recover.

I had traveled to Cleveland with the president three days before Russell’s phone call. I knew I’d have to quarantine until I got tested. I’d been tested before the flight to Cleveland, but that wouldn’t matter now. I’d have to get a new test. No workout this morning, no flight to Wisconsin this afternoon.

That morning, I was scheduled for a Fox and Friends interview in the eight o’clock hour. I grabbed a quick shower and then headed to the office to prep for the interview. We were supposed to discuss the election and how the president was doing in Ohio. But we knew the only topic would be the president contracting the virus.

The first question was, “What kind of interaction did you have with the president?” I told the hosts I’d had a few brief conversations with the president on the flight to Cleveland and before the debate. They asked me how I felt. I replied, “Fine. Had a great workout yesterday.” I told them I didn’t fly back on Air Force One because the campaign wanted me to stay in Ohio and do some late-night TV interviews. Instead, the next morning, I took a commercial flight back to D.C. Overall, I thought the interview was fine.

An hour later, I got tested in the House physician’s office. It was one of the many times I’d been tested. Every time you visit the White House to meet the president, you’re required to get one. However, I knew the test that day would be different. The White House uses the rapid test: a simple swab of the nose and within fifteen minutes, you have the result. The test in the House physician’s office is the more invasive one, the one that goes way back in your sinus cavity. I jokingly call it the “over the river and through the woods” test. Actually, though, it’s not that bad. It’s the five hours waiting for results that’s inconvenient.

Because we were planning to fly to Wisconsin that day and then Ohio on Sunday, we didn’t have our car in D.C. Rather than waiting around to see if I tested negative and then get a flight, we decided we would just rent a car and drive. That way, we’d have most of the drive completed when they called us with the results. Sure enough, halfway home, we got a call from the House doctor: negative.

On that drive home, Polly and I talked about all that had transpired that morning. We talked about President Trump and the First Lady, and like millions of other Americans, we prayed for their health and for our country. Over the weekend, I thought about that day—that one day. In many ways, Friday, October 2, 2020, epitomized the entire year. The year 2020 was about the virus and the presidential election. It was all about politics.

CHAPTER 2

JANUARY 6

The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that January 6 is the ultimate date of significance in US presidential elections. According to the Constitution and federal law, Congress meets on this date in a joint session to count the fifty states’ electoral votes. Most of the time, it’s a formality.

Congress meets, the vice president presides, and the clerk reads the results. After each state is announced, the vice president asks if anyone objects to the electors. If no one objects, the electors are accepted and counted, and he moves on. If one senator and one House member both object, then the members of the House and Senate each retire to their respective chambers for a two-hour debate. Upon conclusion of the debate, each body votes and then reconvenes in the joint session, where they move on to the next state.

For most of our nation’s history, this final step—this ultimate date as Justice Ginsberg put it—has been uneventful. However, the recent presidential elections have been different. When Republicans won, the Democrats objected. In fact, they have objected to every Republican president who was elected this century—on January 6, 2001; January 6, 2005; and January 6, 2017. In 2001 and 2017, Democrat House members were the only ones who objected, and as a result, there was no debate in either the House or the Senate. In 2005, a Democrat senator joined the House objection to the Ohio electors, and a two-hour debate and a House and Senate vote followed.

As we approached January 6, 2021, members of the House and Senate, along with the American people, knew there would be objections and debate for at least some of the states. There was a real possibility that objections to as many as six states might occur. Americans knew this because they instinctively knew there was something wrong with the 2020 election.

Joe Biden got maybe fifty people at each of his campaign events. Some events, he got even fewer. Remember those Biden speeches with seven circles on the grass, but only five people in attendance? President Trump, in contrast, had tens of thousands show up to dozens of rallies. At one rally in Pennsylvania, he had over fifty thousand people! The energy of the campaign was on the president’s side, yet somehow Joe Biden won?

President Trump increased his vote with African Americans. He increased his vote with Hispanic Americans. He won nineteen of twenty bellwether counties around the country. President Trump won Ohio by 8 percent, Iowa by 8 percent, and Florida by 3 percent. House Republicans won twenty-seven of twenty-seven tossup races, and President Trump got 12 million more votes on November 3, 2020, than he did on November 8, 2016. But somehow, he lost to a guy who barely left his home. Maybe everything was legit, but the last time a Republican running for president won Ohio, Iowa, and Florida but lost the White House was in 1960, and the last time an incumbent president got more votes than in the previous election and lost was in 1888. It might have happened again in 2020, but half the electorate had concerns. Polls taken after the 2020 election show that 80 million voters, both Republicans and Democrats, had doubts about the results. Eighty million Americans doubted the validity of the election, and sixty million of our fellow citizens believed the election was stolen. When one-third of the voters believe the process is rigged, we have a big problem.

That such a large number of Americans had this belief motivated Republicans to examine the election. We owed it to the people we represent, and we owed it to the people who pay our salary. It’s why we called for an investigation.

Congressman Jamie Comer, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, and I wrote to Chairman Nadler and Chairwoman Maloney one week after the election, asking them to investigate the anomalies and concerns with the 2020 presidential election. Our view was, let’s find out. Let’s get answers. In addition to the court challenges by the president’s campaign, many of which were dismissed on procedural grounds, we wanted to issue subpoenas, do depositions, and talk to witnesses. Instead of a few hearings in Georgia and Michigan, we wanted to have hearings in the US House of Repr...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: The President Gets COVID
• Chapter 2: January 6
• Chapter 3: 2015
• Chapter 4: What Happened Next
• Chapter 5: The Groundwork for President Donald Trump
• Chapter 6: Freedom
• Chapter 7: When Is Someone Going to Jail?
• Chapter 8: Obamacare Repeal
• Chapter 9: Immigration
• Chapter 10: Tax Cuts
• Chapter 11: Impeachment
• Chapter 12: COVID-19
• Chapter 13: January 11, 2021
• Chapter 14: America