Jim Jordan dodges question on whether he spoke to Trump before, during or after US Capitol riot

Republican Jim Jordan tip-toed around when exactly he spoke to Donald Trump on 6 January amid threats from the Capitol riot committee he could be called as a material witness to the investigation.

The Ohio congressman confirmed in an interview with Spectrum News that he spoke to the former president the day of the attack, but that he could not remember when the conversation took place.

“Yeah I mean — I spoke with the president last week, I speak with the president all of the time. I spoke with him on January 6," Mr Jordan said.

"I’m actually kind of amazed sometimes that people keep asking this, of course, I talk to the president all the time," he added.

When asked if it was before, during or after the Capitol was attacked, Mr Jordan replied that he "spoke with him that day, after", before clarifying that he wasn’t sure of the timing.

"I think after. I don’t know if I spoke with him in the morning or not. I just don’t know, I’d have to go back and, I mean I don’t, I don’t, I don’t know that, when those conversations happened, but what I know is I spoke with him all the time” he said.

Mr Jordan was among the group of GOP representatives originally selected to sit on the 6 January committee before House speaker Nancy Pelosi vetoed his participation and installed Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who had both voted to impeach Mr Trump.

The question of who Mr Trump spoke to on 6 January was central in the impeachment that ultimately failed to convict the former president of inciting an insurrection.

The House’s impeachment managers were forced to retract a statement that Senator Mike Lee received a call from Mr Trump during the riot, which was based on reports the president was seeking to speak with Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville about issuing objections to the Electoral College vote count.

Mr Trump was also said to have had a heated call with Kevin McCarthy in which the then-president was quoted as saying the people at the Capitol were more upset about the election than the House Republican leader, who was reportedly asking Mr Trump to call off his supporters.

Before the committee hearings began on Tuesday, Ms Cheney singled out Mr Jordan as a potential focus of the hearing.

"I think that Congressman Jordan may well be a material witness,” Ms Cheney told Good Morning America.

“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.”

Mr Jordan previously rejected the idea that he should be subpoenaed to testify about his conversations with Mr Trump. In May, he told The Washington Post that the suggestion was ridiculous.

"And why would they subpoena me? I didn’t do anything wrong — I talked to the president,” Mr Jordan told the Post. “I talk to the president all the time. I just think that’s — you know where I’m at on this commission — this is all about going after President Trump. That seems obvious.”

The question of whether Mr Jordan had spoken to Mr Trump on 6 January or the days leading up to it had been unclear until he confirmed it in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday.

Asked directly if he spoke to the ex-president on 6 January, Mr Jordan repeated a similar answer.

"Yes. I mean, I’ve talked to the president— I’ve talked to the president so many— I can’t remember all the days I’ve talked to him, but I’ve certainly talked to the president," he said.