The House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Friday that Republicans will put Trump Apologist, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), on the Intelligence Committee “ahead of next week’s televised impeachment hearings, a move designed to bolster President Donald Trump’s defense as Democrats take their probe public”.

Jordan, who currently serves as the top Republican on the Oversight and Reform Committee and is one of President Trump’s most vocal defenders in the lower chamber, has played a leading role in the impeachment hearings held behind closed doors, The Hill Reported:

On Friday, the House GOP leader dubbed the panel “the partisan Impeachment Committee.”

“Along with millions of Americans across the country who are frustrated with this impeachment-obsessed majority, Rick has offered to step aside for this charade,” McCarthy said. “When it is finished, Rick will rejoin the committee and resume his work to keep our country safe. Jim Jordan has been on the front lines in the fight for fairness and truth. His addition will ensure more accountability and transparency in this sham process.”

Jordan joins the ranks of the president’s most ardent defenders already on the panel, including Reps. Devin Nunes of California and John Ratcliffe of Texas, CNBC News stated:

The assignment comes soon after another man said Jordan, when he was a wrestling coach at Ohio State University in the early 1990s, ignored his claim that he had been the subject of sexual abuse by Dr. Richard Strauss. Independent investigators have ruled that Strauss, who died in 2005, sexually abused 177 male students over about 20 years.