GOP to Use ‘Power of the Purse’ Against FBI: Rep. Jim Jordan

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) presides over a hearing of the Weaponization of the Federal Government Subcommittee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 9, 2023. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

House Republicans will use its spending power to restrict funding to the FBI, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), head of the lower chamber’s Judiciary Committee and its weaponization subcommittee, said on Sunday.

Jordan said on Fox New’s “Sunday Morning Futures” that Republicans in the lower chamber will use its “power of the purse,” or spending power designated to it by the Constitution, to restrict federal funding sent to the FBI, as the weaponization subcommittee progresses further in investigations into FBI conduct.

“We’re going to look to propose legislation, and in the end, the real power of Congress, the real power of the legislative branch, is the power of the purse,” Jordan told host Maria Bartiromo. “And we’re going to have to use that both on this issue where we think the government’s been targeting the very people it’s supposed to serve. But also, frankly, on the border—I think we’re going to have to look at ways to use the appropriation process to deal with the border situation.”

‘Egregious Behavior’

Driving the Republican lawmaker’s proposed move is a long list of what Jordan describes as “egregious behavior” by the FBI.

A recent example was revealed when FBI Special Agent Garret O’Boyle told lawmakers that the FBI created “threat tags” to target pro-life protesters, the lawmaker said, citing Boyle’s interview with Fox published on March 2, 2023. Before using the tags to track pro-lifers, the FBI used the threat tags to track potential threats to the Supreme Court following the court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022, Boyle told Fox.

“A tag is merely a statistical tool to track information for review and reporting,” the FBI said in a statement to Fox. “The creation of a threat tag in no way changes the long-standing requirements for opening an investigation, nor does it represent a shift in how the FBI prioritizes threats.”

A seal reading "Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation" is displayed on the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building in Washington on Aug. 9, 2022. Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Other allegations Jordan touched on in the Sunday interview include the FBI’s involvement in alleged political censorship on social media, the agency’s lack of transparency with intelligence on COVID-19 origins, alleged targeting of parents protesting at school boards and traditional Catholics, and suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, which Jordan characterized as election interference.

As a response to these allegations, the Judiciary Committee is laying the groundwork and collecting relevant information before eventually approaching the compulsory subpoena process targeting the FBI, the lawmaker said. He added that the legislative branch could prohibit the FBI from using federal funding for certain purposes.

“[We can] say, this funding can’t be used for X, this funding can’t be used for Y, or limit the funding overall,” Jordan said. “Those are things you have to do, or you don’t have the leverage to change, again, this egregious behavior we’re seeing from these agents.”

FBI Whistleblowers

Jordan said the committee has spoken to three FBI whistleblowers who are willing to go public with their interviews and a couple of dozen others who choose to remain anonymous.

Currently, the Judiciary Committee is seeking to speak with 16 FBI employees for “transcribed interviews,” to inform potential legislative reforms to the FBI’s operations and activities, according to a March 3 letter Jordan sent to FBI Director Christopher Wray. The letter was first reported by Breitbart News.

The Epoch Times has contacted Jordan’s office for comment.

The J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building in Washington on July 21, 2022. Chung I Ho/The Epoch Times

Agency Response

In response to a press inquiry from The Epoch Times on Jordan’s claims, a spokesperson from the FBI said the agency does not “conduct investigations based on a person’s views.”

“The men and women of the FBI devote themselves to protecting the American people from terrorism, violent crime, cyber threats, and other dangers,” the FBI spokesperson said.

“We focus on violence, threats of violence, and other illegal activity regardless of the underlying motivation or what side of an issue a person is on. We do not conduct investigations based on a person’s views. While outside opinions and criticism often come with the job, we will continue to follow the facts wherever they lead, do things by the book, and speak through our work,” the spokesperson added.