Fact-checking Jim Jordan’s misleading claim he never said the election was stolen

On Monday, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump in his fight against the 2020 election results, received the Medal of Freedom from Trump. The next day, Jordan was back in Congress arguing that he never said the election was stolen.

During a congressional debate Tuesday, Jordan claimed he never said “this election was stolen” — seemingly distancing himself from the January 6 “Stop the Steal” rally that turned into a deadly attack on the US Capitol.

“I’ve never said that this election was stolen,” Jordan said during a debate in the House Rules Committee over a resolution calling for Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

Facts First: This is highly misleading. Jordan claimed in October that Democrats were working to steal the election and spoke at a “Stop the Steal” rally in Pennsylvania two days after the election. In December, he said he didn’t know how he could be convinced that “Trump didn’t actually win” the election. Jordan also objected to the electoral college results and called for an investigation into the election.

Criticizing a decision from the Supreme Court allowing mail-in ballots received up to three days after election day in Pennsylvania to be counted, Jordan tweeted on October 19 that “Democrats are trying to steal the election, after the election.”

On November 18, Jordan called for Congress to investigate the election “amid troubling reports of irregularities and improprieties” despite the fact that there is no evidence of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election.

During a Fox interview on December 9, Jordan said “I don’t know how you can ever convince me that President Trump didn’t actually win this thing based on all the things you see.” On the program, he also made the argument that because some Americans believe the election was rigged “we should do everything we can to get to the bottom of” their allegations.

During his speech on January 6 objecting to Arizona’s electoral results, — moments before rioters invaded the Capitol — Jordan implied that the results of the election were incorrect and that Trump should have won.

Trump, Jordan argued “got 11 million more votes than he did in 2016, and House Republicans won 27 of 27 toss-up races, but somehow the guy who never left his house wins the election?”

A spokesperson for Jordan told CNN the congressman “stands [by] his comments. He has never said that the election was stolen.”

In remarks Wednesday, as the House prepared to impeach Trump, Jordan objected to the impeachment resolution, defended his objections last week to the electoral college results and again criticized Pennsylvania election rules.