- Trump views Rep. Jim Jordan as his top congressional ally if he wins a 2nd term, Axios reports.
- Jordan is poised to lead high-profile congressional investigations if the GOP wins back the House.
- Trump and his allies are laying the groundwork not just for a presidential campaign, but for a second term in office.
Former President Donald Trump is getting closer to announcing a 2024 presidential campaign — and views GOP Rep. Jim Jordan as his "closest confidante" in Congress, Axios reports.
Trump and his allies are quietly laying the groundwork not just for a presidential campaign, but for a second Trump term in office staffed only by America-first loyalists.
Top Trump allies, working through a series of well-funded political groups and nonprofits, are preparing to purge the federal bureaucracy of people they consider to be disloyal, stack every layer of that bureaucracy with die-hard Trump loyalists, and install top Trump allies like former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark and former Pentagon chief of staff Kash Patel to key positions, Axios reported.
House Republicans, on pace to win back control of the chamber in the 2022 midterms, are also readying a blitz of high-profile investigations targeting the Biden administration, including probes into President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, the January 6 Committee, and their Democratic colleagues.
Jordan, a leading defender of Trump during his first impeachment in late 2019, is poised to chair the powerful House Judiciary Committee and lead many of those investigations if Republicans retake the House in 2022.
Jordan was also a key player in Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Congress and was among those who sought — but did not receive — a preemptive pardon before Trump left office, the January 6 Committee has revealed.
In addition to Jordan, Trump "continues to be a big fan" of bombastic right-wing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Axios reported. Greene was expelled from her committee assignments shortly after arriving in Congress in 2021, but has established herself as a top MAGA-world figure with her social media presence and fundraising.
Trump's relationship with top leaders on the Hill permanently changed after the January 6 attack — and would look very different if he wins a second term.
Trump has fully broken off his relationship with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and his relationship with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, poised to become Speaker if Republicans win back the House, is also on ice. In April, two New York Times reporters leaked audio of McCarthy saying, behind closed doors, that Trump was responsible for the January 6 attack and suggesting he should be removed from office.
Trump later publicly lambasted McCarthy for pulling his three Republican appointments – including Jordan — from the House Select Committee investigating January 6, leaving seven Democrats and two Republican Trump adversaries on the panel.