U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, talks with Shawnee graduate Shashank Chanamolu after presenting a congressional award to the student.
Jacob Espinosa | The Lima News
LIMA — U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, said he is interested in getting to the bottom of what happened at the Butler, Penn., rally in which a shooter attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump.
The politician visited Lima on Monday, sharing talking points with The Lima News and Lima Rotary Club, as well as stopping at several events around town.
“I tried to avoid saying until she testified that I thought Secret Service Director (Kimberly) Cheatle should resign because I wanted her to come in and see if she’d answer any questions, and she didn’t,” Jordan said. “She, of course, needed to step down, and I was 100 percent in favor of that. My biggest problem is that they lied to us the day after President Trump and three other individuals, including the tragically killed Corey Comperatore, were shot.”
Jordan pointed to the five-minute period starting at 6:09 p.m. Saturday, July 13, in which a police officer made contact with the shooter and retreated prior to shots being fired and the denial from Homeland Security that the department turned down requests for additional security assets in Trump’s detail as things for which he said the public deserves answers.
“There is a task force now that has been put together by the speaker and the minority leader, and they’ll take over the information that we’ve gathered from our hearing with (FBI director) Christopher Wray,” he said, taking note of the bipartisanship of the creation of the task force. “I think people understand that you can’t have this. What happened in that key sequence is critical to understand, and hopefully we can get answers in a bipartisan way to that.”
Jordan stuck to his message through most of the day as he visited the West Ohio Food Bank, awarded Shawnee graduate Shashank Chanamolu and spoke at the grand opening of the Allen County Republican Party Victory Center on Cable Road.
Rotary members asked Jordan questions ranging from spending and taxes to student loan forgiveness and a potential farm bill.
Jordan praised the border bill the House of Representatives passed in May 2023, but a bipartisan border bill stalled in the Senate for months over the inclusion of foreign aid (bit.ly/4cuIT1L), something Democrats harshly criticized.
He pushed back against Democratic attacks on Trump running mate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and touted Vance’s story while criticizing the Biden administration and the Democrats.
“I think voters are going to look at what it was like three years and seven months ago under President Trump and what it’s like today,” Jordan said, touching on border security and inflation. “They can put a new candidate in and say all of these wonderful things, but in the end, Americans get the facts.”
Jordan is running against Democrat Tamie Wilson for re-election in the Fourth Congressional District. Election Day is set for Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
