Rep. Jim Jordan - whom Republicans nominated to investigate the Capitol riot - says he spoke with Trump on the day but won't say what they talked about

• GOP Rep. Jim Jordan said on Tuesday he had spoken with Donald Trump on January 6.

• He was barred from serving on the January 6 committee over concerns he was involved in the events.

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Jordan could be called as a witness by the January 6 panel.

• See more stories on Insider's business page.

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio said he spoke with President Donald Trump on the day of the Capitol riot, but he wouldn't say what they talked about.

In a Tuesday interview with Fox News' Bret Baier, Jordan discussed the opening day of the House Select Committee appointed to investigate the January 6 riot.

Jordan was previously slated as one of the five Republicans to serve on the bipartisan panel by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, but he was barred from taking part by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over concerns about his role in pushing the election-fraud claims that instigated the violence.

One the key questions that lawmakers on the panel will seek to answer is what specifically Trump did on the day of the riot after delivering his incendiary speech to supporters near the Capitol.

Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican on the committee, said on Tuesday that witnesses who can testify about the former president's actions that day will be subpoenaed.

In his Fox News appearance, Jordan said for the first time that he had spoken with the president that day, meaning he's a witness who could be called to testify about Trump's actions.

"I talked to the president. I never talk about what we talk about. I just don't think that's appropriate, just like I don't talk about what happens in Republican conferences. So I talked to the president numerous times. I continue to talk to the president," Jordan said.

Baier pressed him: "No, no. I mean on January 6, congressman."

Jordan responded: "Yes. I mean I've talked to the president so many - I can't remember all the days I have talked to him, but I have certainly talked to the president."

He went on to say that security failings in the House should be the real focus of the probe.

"Why didn't the United States Capitol - the people's house - have an appropriate security posture on that day, and what have we done?" he said.

Pelosi's decision last week to bar Jordan and Rep. Jim Banks, another Trump loyalist, from the committee prompted McCarthy to withdraw all the Republicans he had nominated to take part in the investigation.

The two Republicans on the panel, Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, were appointed by Pelosi and are considered pariahs in their party because of their decision to take a stand against Trump over the insurrection.

Earlier on Tuesday, before Jordan disclosed that he'd spoken with Trump on January 6, Cheney suggested that Jordan could be called as a material witness as part of the committee's investigation.

"I think that Congressman Jordan may well be a material witness," she said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

She continued: "He's somebody who was involved in a number of meetings in the lead-up to what happened on January 6th, involved in planning for January 6th, certainly for the objections that day as he said publicly, so he may well be a material witness."

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