“I don’t know if that there’s any law that can stop that evil that we saw” in the video of five Memphis police officers beating Tyre Nichols, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
Nichols died three days after the January 7 beating. The release of the police video on Friday night has renewed calls for police reforms.
“What strikes me is just a lack of respect for human life,” Jordan said on Sunday:
“So, I don’t know that any law, any training, any reform is going to change (that). You know, this man was handcuffed. They continue to beat him. And I was actually reminded — it’s hard to watch the whole thing.
“But as I watched it, I was reminded of when we had a hearing, probably two years ago, when — when George Floyd’s brother came and testified in front of Judiciary Committee, and it was one of those moments where fact and truth and emotion all came together.
“And he said something at hearings, actually, during the questioning portion of the hearing, he said, life is precious. And it was one of those moments that grabbed everyone in that hearing both — both parties.
“And the fact that we saw that these individuals, these five individuals did not have any respect for life. And again, I don’t think these five guys represent the vast, vast majority of law enforcement. But I don’t know if there’s anything you can do to stop that kind of evil we saw in that video.”
Jordan said there may be some police reforms the Judiciary Committee can look at.
“But it’s just a difference in, I think, philosophy. The Democrats always think that it’s a new law that’s going to fix something that terrible.”
Jordan said Republicans will “look at what we think makes sense to help this, to make sure they have the proper training, but no amount of training is going to change what we saw in that video.”
Host Chuck Todd asked Jordan if an investigation into police reform should “be among the top things the Judiciary Committee works on?”
“Well, this is certainly in many ways abuse of — I mean weaponization of government and abuse of the state and authority against the people that they’re actually supposed to serve. But we got a number of things we’re going to look at in the Judiciary Committee and on the Select Committee as well.”
Jordan chairs both the House Judiciary Committee and a new Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
He said he expects the first hearing of the Judiciary Committee in the 118th Congress to take place this week, “on Tuesday or Wednesday,” and it will focus “on the border situation.”
