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THE PROBLEM(S) WITH JIM JORDAN’S PURSUIT OF A N.Y. PROSECUTOR

Conservative media demanded that Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan take
Matthew Colangelo conspiracy theories seriously. He's acting accordingly.

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May 17, 2024, 11:16 AM EDT
By Steve Benen

It was a couple of weeks ago when House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan sat
down with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, and the conservative host expressed her
frustration with the House Republicans’ seemingly endless parade of
inconsequential investigations.

As the two discussed Donald Trump’s ongoing criminal trial in New York,
Bartiromo told the Ohio Republican, “Well, look, I mean, at this point, American
citizens are asking, ‘What can you do about it?’ I mean, look, with all due
respect, people are sick and tired of congressional investigations that go
nowhere.”




In context, the Fox host wasn’t suggesting that GOP lawmakers end pointless
partisan probes; Bartiromo was instead suggesting that Jordan and his partisan
allies start launching more productive partisan probes.

Soon after, the Judiciary Committee chairman demanded information from the
Justice Department about Matthew Colangelo, a former Justice Department official
who’s now involved in prosecuting Donald Trump’s hush-money case. Two weeks
later, as NBC News reported, Jordan has taken another related step.

> House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is demanding documents from the
> New York attorney general related to the hiring of a lead prosecutor in Donald
> Trump’s hush money trial. Jordan, R-Ohio, accused Matthew Colangelo, who is a
> former high-ranking official in Attorney General Letitia James’ office, of
> assisting in what he called Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s
> “politicized prosecution” as Trump stands trial in New York.

The report added that Jordan is also seeking communications among Colangelo and
the New York and Fulton County, Georgia, district attorneys’ offices, the
Justice Department, the Democratic National Committee, and President Joe Biden's
re-election campaign. 

Chances are, most of the public has never heard of Colangelo, though your weird
uncle who consumes conservative media all day is very likely aware of him.



As regular readers know, Colangelo served as a former senior Justice Department
official with a long history of taking on Donald Trump, including having led the
investigation that led to the shutdown of Trump’s fraudulent charitable
foundation. When he joined district attorney Alvin Bragg’s team in 2022, it was
evidence of an intensifying investigation into the former president’s alleged
crimes.

Conservative conspiracy theorists, however, came to believe Colangelo’s work in
the Manhattan district attorney’s office was actually evidence of the Biden
administration secretly pulling the strings in the hush money case, as part of
an elaborate election plot against Trump.

It’s this conspiracy theory that Jordan is now taking seriously — or at least
pretending to take seriously — as evidenced by the Ohioan’s latest outreach to
the New York attorney general’s office.

By all appearances, Jordan’s newest efforts to investigate an investigation —
one of the Judiciary Committee chairman’s most unfortunate habits — will
probably not amount to much, in part because the conspiracy theory appears to be
baseless, and in part because state and local officials will almost certainly
ignore Jordan’s requests. He has no jurisdiction over their work, which helps
explain why the far-right congressman’s latest efforts to intervene in an
ongoing criminal case will fail.



But what’s especially notable about the developments is the degree to which the
Republican congressman was effectively bullied into pursuing the conspiracy
theory in the first place.


RECOMMENDED


MADDOWBLOGFRIDAY’S MINI-REPORT, 5.24.24

Media Matters recently explained in a report, “Pro-Trump media figures alleged
that Colangelo is a ‘partisan hatchet man’ and claimed that his past service in
the Justice Department ... proves that Trump’s indictment was a ‘political hit
by Biden to take out Trump.’ In reality, Colangelo had unique experience for
Bragg because he led the New York attorney general’s civil inquiry into Trump
before joining the Justice Department, and it is not unusual for lawyers to
leave DOJ for senior roles in the Manhattan DA’s office.”

Nevertheless, Steve Bannon took an especially keen interest in the matter,
boasting that he intended to “force” Jordan to take the right’s Colangelo
theories seriously.

“We’re already working behind the scenes and we’re going to force Jordan to do
that because all Jordan’s given, and you can talk to the Trump team, all he’s
done is happy talk,” Bannon told his listeners earlier this month, adding that
Jordan has produced a series of “air balls” (a basketball term referring to
shots that don’t hit anything).



“You must take action,” Bannon added. “I shouldn’t have to take valuable airtime
here, that we have so many other things to get to hound you. To hound you. To
hound you. Because if you don’t have a bayonet to the back of these guys,
they’re going to backslide on everything, you know why? Because they’re
gutless.”

“It’s called controlled opposition,” Bannon concluded. “[Jordan will] go on
Hannity and talk about some stuff, right? But nothing happens and this has got
to happen.”

Days later, Jordan demanded that the U.S. attorney general’s office provide his
panel with evidence related to the Colangelo conspiracy theory — Bannon was
pleased by the “start” — followed by the congressman making similar demands of
the New York attorney general’s office.

When Jordan took over as chair of the Judiciary Committee, it stood to reason
that far-right voices would help call the shots. I didn’t realize, however, just
how easily he’d be bullied into submission.



This post updates our related earlier coverage.

Steve Benen

Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog
and an MSNBC political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "The
Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics."

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