A hearing of the House Weaponization Committee descended into a chaos of crosstalk, shouting and interruption on Thursday after Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) accused Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) of withholding information about purported FBI “whistleblowers.”
“It’s my understanding that the minority in this committee is entitled to the same testimony, information, documents that the majority is entitled to, so I’m not aware that you’re able to withhold information that we would need to use—” began Wasserman Schultz.
She was referring to former FBI agents who have spoken out about the agency’s investigations into the January 6 Capitol incident.
[What follows is my best attempt to transcribe the crosstalk among multiple representatives, much of which is inaudible and difficult to source.]
“When it comes to whistleblowers, you’re not,” Jordan began.
“That’s not right,” someone else is heard saying. “That’s not right.”
“It’s shocking that the gentleman from New York—” Jordan began. “When you were part of the investigation with an anonymous whistleblower.”
“Mr. Chairman—” Wasserman Schultz interjected. “Mr. Chairman, these individuals have not been declared whistleblowers.”
“I can’t hear five people at once, can we have regular order?” one congressman said, speaking for all disgruntled listeners of the disorderly exchange.
Watch:
Weaponization-Hearing-Devolves-Into-Chaos-And-Representatives-Repeatedly-Interrupt-Each-Other
The House Weaponization Committee was established earlier this year as part of the deal as a concession by eventual House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in order to acquire his current position. The committee’s purpose is to investigate alleged abuses by federal agencies under the Biden administration, particularly with regard to the treatment of participants in the January 6 Capitol incident and the raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence last August.
The committee was criticized as a “tin foil hat committee” by multiple Democratic members of Congress, who dismiss concerns about abuses by law enforcement agencies against right-wing activists as baseless conspiracy theorizing. Yet the committee has heard numerous testimonies from three former FBI officials who allege that the agency has punished internal dissent and used its power to launch nebulous, unjustified investigations of political opponents.
Jordan, who serves as chair of the committee, has claimed that dozens more FBI whistleblowers have come to him with concerns over alleged government abuses. Subcommittee Democrats published a report in which they claim that these individuals do not meet the criteria of “whistleblowers,” claiming that the suggestion of whistleblower status was a cynical ploy by Republicans to protect the men in question from scrutiny.
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