Jim Jordan says 'it's gonna be tough' to work with 'radical' Democrats, pans Pelosi 1/6 commission proposal
Jordan will deliver an address at CPAC Sunday afternoon before former President Donald Trump
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rep. Jim Jordan told Fox News on Sunday that he's not sure Republicans in Congress will be able to work with Democrats, saying that the opposing party in Congress is too "radically left" to negotiate with on major issues.
Jordan, R-Ohio, made the comments in an interview with Fox News ahead of his address to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Sunday. Jordan, one of the highest-profile Republicans in the House of Representatives, is the second-highest profile speaker of the day behind former President Donald Trump, who will deliver the keynote address.
"I don't know if -- it's gonna be tough to work with the Democrats because they're just so radically left today," Jordan told Fox News. "I mean, you think about the policies the Biden administration has put in executive orders, canceling the moratorium on letting illegals in the country with a criminal record. The cancellation of the 1776 Commission, for goodness sakes. ... The left is as radical as they get."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Fox News on Sunday that he's unsure Republicans can work with Democrats because of how "radical" they are. He also said he does not believe former President Donald Trump is responsible for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Jordan also sidestepped a question about how House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have handled their jobs and the controversy around Trump in the past two months. Jordan instead praised the job Trump did in office and said he hopes Trump runs again in 2024.
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"I think President Trump is the leader of our party," he said. "I don't think there's any doubt about that. I think there's a few people on the fringe of our party, the Lincoln Project folks, who've been against the president."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jordan added: "But our party is led by President Trump. I think that's good. I hope he runs for office, for the presidency again in 2024. I think if he does he will get the nomination and I think he will win."
McConnell has panned what he says was Trump's role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, while McCarthy has sought to mend fences with the former president.
President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020, after stepping off Marine One. Trump is returning from Camp David. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Jordan also said that he sides with McCarthy in his negotiations with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over a potential commission to investigate the security failures at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Pelosi's initial proposal would have had 7 members appointed by Democrats and four by Republicans, something which Republicans publicly resisted last week.
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"If she wants to do a truly bipartisan commission, Kevin's right. Leader McCarthy's right. If she wants to do a commission where they're gonna dig into it they look into it, that's one thing and I think everyone would support that," he said. "If it's just gonna be another political attack on Republicans... so far the Democrats seem to indicate they don't want that kind of bipartisan spirit."
Jordan further said that he does not believe Trump is at fault for the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I think President Trump was an amazing president ... the people who engaged in the wrongdoing on Jan. 6 should be held to account but that was not the president's fault," Jordan said.
After leading the second impeachment of President Donald Trump this week, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., holds a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. Pelosi's initial proposal for a 1/6 commission was would have had 7 members appointed by Democrats and four by Republicans, something which Republicans publicly resisted last week. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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The Jan. 6 attack followed a rally held the same day byTrump in which he encouraged his supporters to protest Biden's electoral college certification. Trump told his followers during that speech to protest "peacefully and patriotically," but critics have said that one off-hand comment does not outweigh the balance of his rhetoric in the lengthy Jan. 6 speech or in the preceding weeks, in which he said the rally would be "wild."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for allegedly inciting an insurrection but the Senate later failed to convict him.
Trump's speech at CPAC will be his first public speech since he left office. He's expected to slam the Biden administration and come "right up to the line of announcing another campaign" without actually committing. Trump will also attack President Biden's policies and lay out a "pathway" for Republicans to take back Congress in 2022.
Fox Nation is a sponsor of CPAC.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News' John Roberts contributed to this report.