Jordan subpoenas Garland, Wray in push against anti-disinformation efforts

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, issued subpoenas to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray last week in his latest effort to conjure proof the federal government has unlawfully worked to censor conservatives. 

In a statement earlier this month, Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, alleged the federal government “coerced and colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor American speech online.”

In his letters to Garland and Wray, dated Aug. 17, Jordan said his committee is seeking “communications between the Justice Department, private companies and other third-party groups, like nonprofit organizations, in addition to other information” like communications between DOJ officials and other agencies. 

A day after Jordan subpoenaed Garland and Wray, he sent letters requesting interviews with Chris Krebs, the former head of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Yoel Roth, who once worked as the head of trust and safety at Twitter (now known as X).

Ever since Republicans regained control of the House earlier this year, Jordan has used his perch on the Judiciary Committee to spread conspiracy theories alleging the government is involved in a conspiracy to censor conservatives. Earlier this year, Jordan and X CEO Elon Musk billed the so-called Twitter Files as bombshell evidence that the executive branch worked to censor Republicans on the social media platform.

But that GOP-led effort proved to be a flop. If anything, it showed Donald Trump’s team sought to censor liberals critical of him. And on top of that, Jordan, Musk and conservatives in their corner failed to present evidence of anti-conservative censorship. To the contrary, their cherry-picked examples actually indicated that although some government officials and disinformation experts raised concerns about some false and manipulative posts that appeared to violate social media platforms’ terms of use, the ultimate decision on whether to act on these posts rested with the platforms themselves. And often, the platforms decided not to act on the government’s request. 

In lieu of evidence the government actually censored conservatives, Jordan has claimed it engaged in censorship “by proxy,” essentially arguing that the government made recommendations to social media companies — or worked with disinformation experts who made recommendations to social media companies — which Jordan says constitutes censorship. 

In July, a Trump-appointed federal judge effectively agreed with Jordan and Republican attorneys general who sued to hamstring the Biden administration’s efforts to curb misinformation. U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in Louisiana issued an extremely broad injunction July 4 in the case, temporarily kneecapping the government’s anti-disinformation efforts until an appeals court paused the injunction July 14.

With his latest subpoenas, Jordan is claiming his title as the leader of the right’s anti-anti-disinformation efforts. And he’s guaranteeing the crusade continues on in courtrooms and in the halls of Congress.