House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is aggressively probing a series of lame-duck actions taken by the Biden Justice Department in recent weeks in office, saying a recent flurry of activity against businesses and red states smacks of a new wave of political gunmen. government measures.

In an extensive interview with Just the news on Friday, Jordan cited the DOJ’s efforts to investigate Elon Musk and his companies after his apparent support for Donald Trump’s campaign, threatening letters sent to states seeking to remove non-citizens from voting rolls and several hastily launched antitrust investigations as examples of potentially abusive DOJ behavior.

“This pattern of turning these agencies over to the very people they are supposed to serve — we the people, the taxpayers — has been a concern from the beginning,” he told Just the news, no noise TV program. “We’re now worried about what they might do with the antitrust issue, going after companies as they’re walking out the door.

“Of course, right before the election, we saw the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice go after Virginia to simply prevent non-citizens from voting in our elections,” he added. “Imagine if we got the same thing in Ohio, our Secretary of State got a letter three weeks before Election Day saying they were concerned about the good work he was doing. So we’re always concerned about this. We’re going to keep working.”

Jordan sent a letter Friday to Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, who oversees the DOJ’s antitrust division, demanding answers about recent activity since Trump was declared the winner of the Nov. 5 election.

“According to information available to the committee, the Antitrust Division has aggressively escalated its regulation of American companies shortly after the election of President Trump,” wrote Jordan Kanter. “Specifically, we have received allegations that the division sent demand letters to numerous companies indicating an intent to initiate enforcement actions during the final days of the Biden-Harris administration.

“With the American people clearly rejecting the failed policies of the Biden-Harris administration, the actions of the division are inappropriate and inconsistent with the will of the American people,” he said.

You can read the entire letter here.

The letter requires DOJ to “preserve all existing and future records and materials responsive to all requests for documents and information related to the Committee’s oversight of DOJ’s Antitrust Division.”

Jordan also made clear that he plans to continue investigating the conduct of special counsel Jack Smith in his pursuit of indicting Trump, even if Smith drops the cases and resigns as widely expected.

“That’s why we pay attention to them. Preserve everything and understand Congress. The story is that Congress oversees the Special Council,” he said.

The chairman said he was particularly interested in investigating whether one of Smith’s deputies, Jay Bratt, had contact with the Biden White House when the criminal charges against Trump were being drafted.

“We are concerned about Mr. Bratt. What were his conversations with people when it looks like he was in the White House? We want to know if that actually happened, who he talked to, what he talked about, any correspondence that is relevant for that, Jordan explained.

“We think anything that’s worth it we get information about and make sure that this kind of thing doesn’t, shouldn’t happen, shouldn’t happen in the future,” the Ohio Republican explained.

Jordan also signaled that he will use his seat atop the committee next year to make another push on long-awaited reforms to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) spying.

Jordan nearly succeeded in the past year in getting a demand that the US Secret Service and the FBI obtain a court-ordered warrant to spy on Americans’ phone calls abroad. The measure failed in a tie vote, and Jordan said he plans to reinstate the warrant requirement when the new Congress convenes in January.

Jordan expressed particular excitement about Trump’s selection of former Democratic congresswoman and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard as the next director of National Intelligence, saying he was hopeful it could tip FISA reform over the top.

“Having Tulsi at ODNI. I mean, she’s a champion of the First Amendment,” Jordan added Just the news, no noise TV program.

“This is what I love so much about President Trump’s election, he’s putting people in these government agencies, nominating people who have the attitude that the American people elected, that the American people voted for, which is we’re going to go serve the people, protect their freedoms, actually make government more efficient less, work for the country and protect their rights,” he added. “I think that’s great, and Tulsi believes in the First Amendment, freedom of speech and freedom.”