Jim Jordan is moving closer to becoming House speaker, even as a former federal prosecutor said that Jordan is "an accessory after the fact" to former President Donald Trump's alleged election-rigging attempts.
Several legal experts told Newsweek that prosecutors would have to show that Jordan's claims about the 2020 election were part of a wider conspiracy.
On Thursday, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise withdrew from the House race. That has put Jordan in a very strong position to take the role, even as controversy about his role in the 2020 election continues to amplify.
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Several legal experts told Newsweek that Jordan may claim he was simply exercising his free-speech rights under the constitution's First Amendment.
Peter Shane, adjunct professor of law at New York University, said that the First Amendment does not cover all intentionally false statements. "Laws against fraud, perjury, and defamation, for example, are not unconstitutional," he added.
However, Shane said that the first amendment may protect Jordan if he was simply raising questions within the political arena.
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"The first amendment would make it difficult to uphold a prosecution of Jordan based solely on his speech unless it could be shown to be part and parcel of some larger criminal act," Shane added.
That larger criminal act led prosecutors to use Trump's words against him when indicting him for his 2020 presidential...
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