Jan. 6 committee witness testifies Jim Jordan called White House during discussions of ‘Hang Mike Pence’ chants

Jim Jordan

FILE - Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, takes part in a discussion at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Feb. 26, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. Testimony to the House select commmittee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol incursion by Donald Trump supporters said Jordan called White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on the afternoon of the attack to inform him of chants of "Hang Mike Pence." (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)AP

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- As Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2020, in a bid to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory, Rep. Jim Jordan, a Champaign County Republican, called White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows while aides discussed chants from Trump supporters calling for Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged, according to testimony to the U.S. House Jan. 6 committee.

According to former Meadows aid Cassidy Hutchinson, the call came as the White House was figuring out how to respond to the rioters’ breaching Capitol security in their failed attempt to overturn the election results.

Jordan called Meadows around 2:15 p.m. the day of the riot, Hutchinson said.

“They had a brief conversation,” she said. “In crossfire, I heard briefly what they were talking about. I heard conversations in the Oval (Office) dining room at that point talking about the ‘Hang Mike Pence’ chants.”

Pence drew the ire of Trump and his supporters after he said he would do his constitutionally sworn duty to certify the election results, despite Trump and others making baseless claims about widespread voter fraud. Pence was whisked away by security on the day of the riot for his safety.

In her outline of events in Meadows’ office, Hutchinson said Meadows and then-White House Counsel Pat Cipollone made Trump acutely aware of the immediate threat to Pence’s safety.

“I remember Pat saying something to the effect of, ‘Mark, we need to do something more. They’re literally calling for the vice president to be effing hung,’” Hutchinson said.

“Mark had responded something to the effect of, ‘You heard him, Pat. He thinks the vice president deserves it. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong,” she continued.

Hutchinson said that Cipollone called the ordeal crazy and pushed for more action to quell the rioters.

“Knowing what I heard briefly in the dining room coupled with Pat discussing the ‘Hang Mike Pence’ chants in the lobby of our office, and then Mark’s response, I understood ‘they’re’ to be the rioters in the Capitol that were chanting for the vice president to be hung,” she said.

Jordan, one of the lead proponents of Trump’s rigged elections claims, has thus far defied a subpoena and refused to testify under oath to the committee while simultaneously maintaining his and his colleagues’ innocence and publicly questioning the committee’s authority to investigate the attacks.

The full context of Jordan’s calls to the White House on the day of the riot is not fully public, though he made at least one call to Trump the morning of the attack. He and other members of the Republican caucus led the way in trying to overturn the election results from within Congress by voting not to accept the results.

During Tuesday’s hearing, which was previously unscheduled, Jordan posted about a variety of subjects on his Twitter account, including one retweet from the House Judiciary GOP, of which he is the ranking member, questioning Hutchinson’s motives.

Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer has reached out to Jordan for comment.

This is not the first time Jordan has come up during the House investigation into the Jan. 6 attack. During testimony last week, Jordan was highlighted as an example of the all-out effort by Trump’s supporters in Congress to undermine the 2020 election results and talked about presidential pardons for members of Congress.

This post has been updated to clarify that it is not clear if Rep. Jim Jordan informed White House chief of staff Mark Meadows of the chants.

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