On CNN, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) responded to President Trump's call to impeach a federal judge.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good to be with you, Casey.
00:02So just want to start with a simple question.
00:05Do you believe, as President Trump does, that Judge Boasberg should be impeached?
00:10Well, normally, as Chief Justice Roberts has pointed out, the remedy for bad decisions
00:15is the appellate court.
00:17But it seems to me you may have something a little different here.
00:21This judge's decision was so ridiculous, it seems to be political.
00:25And then when you add to it the history of Judge Boasberg, his work with the FISA court,
00:30back in the whole Trump-Russia baloney, that whole fake collusion thing that they talked
00:34about, the Democrats talked about forever, and then, of course, his sentencing of Kevin
00:38Kleinsmith, the guy who lied to the FISA court, altered a document back during that same timeframe,
00:44I think you might have here a judge who's acting in a political fashion.
00:47That is a different question.
00:48And so for us Republicans, and I think folks on the Judiciary Committee, all options are
00:52still on the table.
00:54We're going to do some research.
00:55We're going to dig into this, and we're going to find out.
00:57And then I think when you really step back, Casey, and look at how stupid the decision
01:01was by this judge, I mean, he basically said, wait, not basically, he did say, turn the
01:06plane around, bring back gang members, hardened criminals who've done all kinds of bad things
01:11who are here illegally, turn the plane around and bring those bad guys back to the country.
01:16I think just on its face, this is ridiculous.
01:19And so it sure looks like the judge is acting in a political fashion.
01:22Yeah, I completely understand the argument that people are making about whether these
01:28people should have been deported or not.
01:30I want to get a little bit more clarity in what you're saying.
01:33What specifically has Judge Bozberg done that you believe is an impeachable offense under
01:38the constitutional description of high crimes and misdemeanors?
01:44All I'm saying is if you're acting in a political fashion and not just following the law, ruling
01:50on the law.
01:52And I would argue that, frankly, just his ruling in and of itself, remember, the Constitution
01:56is pretty clear.
01:57Article two, section one, very first sentence says, power in the executive branch shall
02:01be vested in a president of the United States.
02:04The president has the authority here.
02:06Second, he followed the statute.
02:07But isn't there a major body of law that shows that he would probably be likely to win?
02:12Predatory incursion, and he followed the statute.
02:16And then third, the president told the country he was going to do this.
02:18It's not like it's a surprise to anyone, let alone this judge.
02:21He campaigned on it and said he was going to do it.
02:24So I think when you put all that together, that's what makes this decision look so political
02:28on the part of Judge Bozberg.
02:30But Mr. Chairman, and we actually showed how many times the president said exactly that
02:34he would use this law when he was on the campaign trail.
02:36We showed our viewers some of that yesterday.
02:39So I do take that point.
02:40But given all these arguments, if you think that this is, there is an enormous body of
02:44law out there, some of it built during the Bush administration, which I know, you know,
02:48you were here in Washington during a lot of this, that suggests that the president actually
02:52might win this case on the merits in the longer term under the normal process.
02:57So if you're the White House, why not put that appeal through?
03:00Why not use the process that's available to you right then?
03:03Well, there, in fact, may be an appeal process.
03:08I know we got all kinds of cases, I think 15 different cases now where there have been
03:14some federal district judge who's done some kind of injunction ruled against President
03:18Trump in just eight weeks of him being in office.
03:21So those are all going to get challenged.
03:22You go through the appellate process.
03:24That may, in fact, happen in this particular case, too.
03:26All I'm saying is this judge looks different than some of the other things we have seen
03:30and the pace that were 15, I think in the Biden administration, it was like 13 in the
03:34entire four years.
03:36There have been 15 of these in eight weeks.
03:38So again, that's a concern.
03:40That's why two weeks ago, the Judiciary Committee, we passed legislation which said when a federal
03:45district judge in Timbuktu, California issues an injunction, it should only apply to the
03:51parties of the case in that respective jurisdiction, not apply nationwide in some of these other
03:55cases that we're dealing with.
03:57We think that's good.
03:58We pass it through the committee.
03:59We'll try to look to pass it on the House floor and move it through the process.
04:02Sir, let me ask you about something you said partway through your first answer, which is
04:07this question.
04:08You're in charge of the House Judiciary Committee.
04:10Do you plan to hold hearings that may look at the impeachment of Judge Boasberg or other
04:17federal judges?
04:20We're going to hold hearings on this entire issue, the 15 injunctions that have been done
04:25in an eight week time frame, Judge Boasberg decision.
04:28We plan on holding hearings, hearing from experts, talking about this whole body of
04:33law, this whole situation.
04:34Would you hold impeachment hearings?
04:37Again, everything is on the table.
04:39We're considering all options.
04:40That's why we pass legislation.
04:41There may be a legislative, another legislative remedy we want to look at, but we do think
04:45it's important for us to gather information, get input on this issue.
04:49We're looking just maybe the Missouri next week having a hearing in one of our subcommittees.
04:54We're not ruling out anything.
04:55I never do that.
04:58Do you think it'd be politically risky to hold impeachment hearings for judges considering
05:02the incredibly narrow House majority?
05:06Look, I'm not saying we're going to go there.
05:08All I'm saying is I think this is a concern.
05:11Judge Boasberg has raised concerns with us Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, Republicans
05:15in general over the years.
05:17When you go back and look at the whole FISA situation, remember what happened there where
05:21the Comey FBI took a dossier that was paid for by the Clinton campaign, hiring the law
05:27firm Perkins Coie, who hired Fusion GPS, who hired a foreigner, Christopher Steele, who
05:32wrote this bogus document full of all kinds of falsehoods.
05:36The Comey FBI took that document to the FISA court and they got warrants to go spy on the
05:40other party's presidential campaign, and Judge Boasberg was a part of letting that happen.
05:45And then one of the guys who lied to the court, Kevin Clinesmith, got a slap on the wrist
05:49for actually altering a document in front of that secret court, and now he comes out
05:52with this decision, and we're not supposed to look at that?
05:55Of course we're going to look at that.
05:56You'd be crazy not to.
05:58So we're going to look at that, but all options are on the table, legislative and anything
06:02else, and that is the approach we're taking as we begin to hear from experts in hearings
06:06we plan to have over the next several weeks.
06:09Have you spoken with President Trump about this?
06:13I have not.
06:14I mean, I talk to him on a very regular basis, but I've not spoken to him about this particular
06:18issue.
06:19Maybe it'll come up.
06:20I'm going to see him later this week.
06:22Okay, good to know.
06:23Do you think that part of why he called for the impeachment of this particular judge is
06:28personal, is to do with what you just outlined?
06:33I don't know.
06:34I think it's probably because President Trump is doing exactly what he told the voters he
06:37was going to do, and you've got a judge who says, turn the plane around, bring the bad
06:41guys back to America.
06:42Maybe the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
06:44And frankly, when the American people hear this, they're like, what is this judge doing?
06:49The president runs the executive branch.
06:51He's the one who put his name on a ballot, got elected.
06:53He's entitled to make these kind of decisions and not have some judge jump into the executive
06:58branch function and say that he can't do it.
07:01And particularly when the people we're talking about are really bad guys who did really bad
07:05things and aren't citizens of this country.
07:08That's the bottom line.
07:09So when you've got a judge who does this, it makes you wonder, is this judge operating
07:13in a political fashion?
07:15And then when you look at the history of this guy, you say, sure looks like he is.
07:19All right.
07:20Congressman, I want to, Mr. Chairman, I want to ask you about something else a little bit
07:23closer to home for you, because there is a Republican primary in the gubernatorial
07:28race in your home state of Ohio.
07:31President Trump endorsed Vivek Ramaswamy.
07:34Do you support Vivek Ramaswamy for this post?
07:37Yeah, I like Vivek.
07:39I think he'll be a great governor of our state.
07:41There's some other good guys who are talking about running, but Vivek's the guy I think
07:44who's going to win this thing.
07:45And I really like his energy.
07:47I like his conservative, his conservative philosophy.
07:50I like the fact he's talking about getting rid of the income tax in our state.
07:53So I think Vivek's a great candidate and will be a great governor when he wins, when he
07:57wins the election here in our great state.
07:59So we should consider that a formal endorsement.
08:01All right.
08:02I like Vivek.
08:05I really do.
08:06Okay.
08:07Congressman Jim Jordan, Mr. Chairman, thanks very much for being with us today.
08:09Hope you'll come back.
08:10You bet.