Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, Spars With CNN’s Jake Tapper Over Ukraine Whistleblower Details
Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, sparred Sunday with CNN anchor Jake Tapper during an appearance on CNN’s State of The Union With Jake Tapper over details pertaining to allegations leveled by a whistleblower that the president asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for information on his political rival, Joe Biden.
Particularly, the Ohio GOP Congressman and the CNN host argued over what, exactly, a summary transcript of the July 25 conversation between Trump and Zelensky, released by the White House on Wednesday, proves from the whistleblower complaint, which was released a day later on Thursday.
Tapper grilled Jordan over his defense of the president’s actions during his appearance on CNN’s Sunday show, asking the lawmaker whether or not he believed it was a problem for a sitting president to ask a foreign government to work with his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and U.S. Attorney General William Barr to investigate a political rival.
“No, I don’t have any problem with the call,” Jordan told the CNN anchor.
“The president was pushing the president of Ukraine to investigate a political rival. I cannot believe that that is OK with you,” a seemingly stunned Tapper responded.
Jordan then said that the scenario would not be okay but insisted that Trump did not do that.
“It’s in the transcript. We all read it,” Tapper retorted.
Oliver Darcy, a senior media reporter at CNN, shared the Jordan-Tapper interview on his Twitter following its airing on CNN. Darcy noted that Jordan faced tougher pushback on his defense of Trump than he was likely used to during his appearances in what Darcy deemed the “right-wing media universe.”
"Sir, that's not what happened"
Worth watching this entire @jaketapper interview with @Jim_Jordan.
Jordan tries floating the same talking points he peddles with ease in the right-wing media universe, and they fall apart as Tapper introduces facts into the equation. pic.twitter.com/8F9vvkmjU1
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) September 29, 2019
Per a previous report from The Inquisitr, the president’s latest scandal was a hot topic on the Sunday morning political shows across networks. On an appearance on ABC News’ This Week, former Trump administration Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert criticized Trump’s allies in an unconventional move for a man who has often defended his former employer. Bossert took particular issue with Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and his repeating of debunked conspiracy theories relating to the 2016 election in his defense of the president.
As reported by The Inquisitr, on CNN competitor FOX’s episode of the Sunday edition of Fox & Friends, conservative radio host Mark Levin sparred with the network’s Ed Henry over the Ukraine situation, which prompted the president to retweet nearly 20 tweets that lashed out at the FOX News host and supported Levin’s defense of Trump.
Despite releasing a summarized transcript of the July 25 call with the Ukrainian president, Trump and his allies have maintained that the president did nothing wrong when he asked Zelensky to look into theories about the former vice president. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday announced the House had begun an official impeachment inquiry following reports of the whistleblower.
