U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, talks with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Once again, the D.C. press corps has fallen for the horse race leaving good journalism to others. Yes, the battle to lead the MAGA-controlled U.S. House is the kind of spectacle that keeps everyone tuning in. But behind that spectacle are important stories about the people who would lead our country. Stories Americans need to hear.

The Speaker of the House is a constitutional office of great importance to our nation. The current nominee of the majority party to fill that spot is Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH),. He’s a man with a well-documented record of supporting the effort to overturn the last presidential election, a history of turning House committees into circus shows. and, despite his years in office, not one single piece of legislation to his credit. It doesn’t take much digging to report on Mr. Jordan. Instead, the press corps focuses on vote counts.

Has the D.C. press corps learned nothing from its humiliation over the last eight years? We are talking about the Speaker of the House here. The leader of a key branch of government. Second in line for the presidency of the United States. It is an important job, to say the least, and it warrants very serious media coverage. Are they so beaten down that they no longer remember that they too have an important role to play in democracy?

I agree with Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal, who says: “It’s simply staggering to me that all the horse race who’s gonna be speaker stories/round tables just kind of brush aside the fact that Jordan is an election denier, if they mention it at all.”

If they took their role seriously, they would know that Jordan’s role in the 2020 election hoax scandal matters, and they would make sure Americans know all about it. Instead, they abase themselves by pretending to outrage when they simply haven’t done the work to know the facts.  Take for example this post by Lisa Desjardins, who covers Congress for PBS NewsHour. She seems not only surprised by the allegation that Jordan is labeled an “insurrectionist,” but she also wants “specific evidence and logic” for the claim.

Mountains of evidence of Jordan’s role in the vast election denier conspiracy are easily available to her. She should have looked at the record before gleefully parading her ignorance and pretending that’s journalism. It isn’t just that she looks foolish — Americans are misinformed when journalists are ill-informed.

Jim Jordan: election denier

That background is not hard to find. As Jordan gained the GOP nomination for House speaker late last week, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) — his former colleague and key member of the Jan. 6 Committee — reminded everyone of this:

She would know. Cheney was vice chair of the House Select Committee on January 6th. She helped develop the evidence that shows Jordan was a key player in Trump’s quest to steal the election. So it should be no surprise that Jordan has a starring role in the final Jan. 6 report. Here’s a sample:

Representative Jordan was a significant player in President Trump’s efforts. He participated in numerous post-election meetings in which senior White House officials, Rudolph Giuliani, and others, discussed strategies for challenging the election, chief among them claims that the election had been tainted by fraud. On January 2, 2021, Representative Jordan led a conference call in which he, President Trump, and other Members of Congress discussed strategies for delaying the January 6th joint session.

And just in case reporters need more reminders of what Jordan did to undermine the election and to perpetuate “The Big Lie,” here’s more from Just Security, a national security and legal investigative group based at the New York University School of Law:

“… congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, has engaged in a systematic effort to cast doubt on the integrity of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. He also led efforts to create an image in the minds of Trump supporters of Jan. 6 as the ‘ultimate date of significance’ (his words, repeated several times). He helped spearhead the effort to oppose certification of the election in Congress. He has continued to promote the ‘Big Lie’ even after the events on Jan. 6 and subsequent FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warnings that this conspiracy is propelling domestic violent extremists.”

This Just Security report also includes a detailed timeline of Jordan’s election denier role.

 

Some journalists get it right

The information about Jordan is there, and yet only a few news organizations are actually talking about it. CNN is one such news organization. Anchor Jake Tapper did a strong segment that is worth a watch.

CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski also has a good piece. One part focused on Jordan’s lie that he never actually said the 2020 election had been stolen:

“Though Trump lost, Jordan urged people to ‘get to the bottom of what actually happened on election day.’ He would later claim in May 2021, “I’ve never said this election was stolen, all I’ve said is, ‘Let’s check it out.’

“But a CNN KFile review of his public comments and his frequent media appearances show Jordan repeatedly suggested just that. One hundred forty-seven Republicans objected to the election results on January 6, 2021, but Jordan, with his constant television and radio appearances, was among the most vocal.”

Other good Jordan fact checks include include Jill Lawrence for The Bulwark, this from the Ohio Capital Journal in Jordan’s home state and this from David Corn of Mother Jones. They remind us that Jordan refused to cooperate with the Jan. 6 committee subpoena, so we still don’t know what was said on his multiple phone calls with Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani and others during the siege of the Capitol. Corn also reminds us just how dangerous Jordan really is:

“Jordan is a Trump mini-me. He provided cover to Putin’s successful assault on an American election. He is leading the GOP’s bogus impeachment crusade against Biden. He is a vainglorious demagogue who schemed to subvert the republic.”

With the democracy itself at stake in the coming year, the D.C. press corps cannot be excused for failing to do its job. Again. And with mountains of easy to find evidence of Jordan’s complicity in the largest attack on our government, it really isn’t too much to expect the media to rise to the occasion and tell us the full story rather than just the easy one.

Jennifer Schulze is a former Chicago journalist who talks media every month on WCPT 820AM on “Live, Local & Progressive with Joan Esposito” with former Chicago Tribune editor Mark Jacob. You can follow her on Twitter/X @NewsJennifer or Threads @jenniferschulzechi.