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Opinion: I Went Toe to Toe With Jim Jordan in Congress. What a Circus!

11 38
13.07.2024

Shan Wu is a former federal prosecutor who served as counsel to Attorney General Janet Reno

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I was invited to testify before the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. While I have prepared people to testify before Congress, it was the first time I was the one in the witness chair and I expected more stress. Prepping other people allows you the luxury of reacting and word-smithing answers but answering questions as a witness gives you no time to edit or get input before you have to answer. And, as a lawyer, I’m used to being the one asking the questions.

To get ready I reminded myself of what I would tell my own witnesses, which was that they knew the subject of their own testimony better than anyone else in the room, and that no amount of combative questioning could change that fact. My advice worked well for my preparation, but nothing could have prepared me for how transparently performative were Republicans in their questioning.

The writer, former federal prosecutor Shan Wu, testifies before the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

The subcommittee is part of the House Judiciary Committee and is chaired by Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, who also chairs the House Judiciary Committee. They’ve taken to flinging any criticism that can come to mind about the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s conviction of former President Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up his alleged sexual encounter with actor and director Stormy Daniels.

Particularly notable is the fact they were holding the hearings even before the trial had concluded, in one instance taking testimony from a witness in that trial—Trump attorney Bob Costello—on a day off from the trial and even before Costello’s actual testimony in the trial a few days later. They also sought testimony from Alvin Bragg, who—appropriately—declined, given that sentencing has not occurred in the case, making it an ongoing criminal case.

The three Republican witnesses (I was the only witness for the Democratic minority) were all there to justify the variety of........

© The Daily Beast


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