Jim Jordan confirms text sent to Meadows, but spokesman for Jan 6 panel admits Schiff doctored it

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A spokesman for Rep. Jim Jordan on Wednesday confirmed that the Ohio Republican sent a text message to then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 5 containing a legal opinion as to how then-Vice President Mike Pence could refuse to count electoral votes he believed were not valid following the 2020 presidential election.

The confirmation came after the House Select Committee on Jan. 6 revealed its contents during earlier proceedings. Reports noted that the text contained a three-paragraph summary of an opinion sent to Jordan by attorney Joseph Schmitz.

The text was read aloud on Monday by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a member of the Jan. 6 committee.

“On January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all,” Schiff quoted the text, saying that it came from a “lawmaker.”

In a statement to CNN on Wednesday, Jordan spokesman Russell Dye said: “Mr. Jordan forwarded the text to Mr. Meadows, and Mr. Meadows certainly knew it was a forward.”

But according to The Federalist, Schiff apparently “doctored” the text in a way that significantly changed its context.

“Following reporting by The Federalist that Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and his staff doctored a text message between Rep. Jim Jordan and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, the House Jan. 6 committee admitted over email that it did, in fact, doctor the text message,” the outlet’s co-founder, Sean Davis, wrote Wednesday.

“As The Federalist reported on Wednesday morning, on Jan. 5, 2021, Jordan forwarded to Meadows a three-paragraph legal summary from attorney Joseph Schmitz, summarizing a four-page legal memorandum Schmitz had written regarding congressional certification of the 2020 presidential electoral vote count,” Davis added.

In a subsequent email to the outlet, a Democratic spokesperson for the Jan. 6 committee “confessed that the committee doctored the text message,” Davis wrote.

“The Select Committee on Monday created and provided Representative Schiff a graphic to use during the business meeting quoting from a text message from ‘a lawmaker’ to Mr. Meadows,” the spokesman wrote. “The graphic read, ‘On January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all.’”

“In the graphic, the period at the end of that sentence was added inadvertently,” the spokesman admitted. “The Select Committee is responsible for and regrets the error.”

Davis went on to say that the spokesman did not explain how it was possible to “inadvertently” cut off a sentence and then “eliminate the final two paragraphs of a detailed legal summary.” The spokesman also failed to “explain why Schiff attributed the content of the text to Jordan, ‘a lawmaker,’ rather than to Schmitz, the attorney who wrote it,” Davis added.

The revelation drew immediate responses from Republicans who have long said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s committee was just another partisan vehicle established to target former President Donald Trump.

“We shouldn’t be surprised given his actions over the past 5 years and given how my emails magically had their dates changed, but he will continue to do this till someone steps up & says enough!” Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., noted on Twitter, taking aim specifically at Schiff, who is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

“Expect a lot more of this. Schiff and the contemptible Jan6 committee will twist and smear the narrative every chance they get,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), added in a tweet of his own.

Jon Dougherty

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