There may not have been “any law” to prevent the “evil” that occurred during the fatal beating of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said.
Memphis authorities published the video footage of the Jan. 7 incident that resulted in Nichols’s death days after officers pulled him over. The video shows the officers chasing and beating Nichols and leaving him on the pavement propped against a squad car. The officers are seen fist-bumping and celebrating their actions.
The footage sparked protests in Memphis and other cities nationwide.
Chuck Todd, the host of “Meet the Press,” asked Jordan if there were any new federal rules and regulations that could be considered to prevent this from happening again in the future.
“I don’t know that there’s any law that can stop that evil that we saw. It’s difficult to watch,” Jordan said.
While he noted that lawmakers would consider measures “to help this, to make sure they have the proper training,” Jordan conceded that “no amount of training’s going to change what we saw in that video.”
He said he doesn’t believe the five officers represent the “vast majority of law enforcement.”
In this session of Congress, Jordan is the chair of the House Judiciary Committee. When asked if police reform will be the committee’s chief priority, Jordan noted that there would be multiple issues that the committee will examine.
“The Democrats always think that it’s a new law that’s going to fix something that terrible,” he said.
Jordan alluded to the George Floyd Bill, which imposed a federal ban on chokeholds, that he didn’t think would’ve prevented Nichols’s death since officers continued to beat him. The bill passed in the previous two sessions of Congress, but the legislation failed to gain movement in the Senate.
The eight-term congressman also discussed the benefits of 2021 legislation from Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.)—the JUSTICE (Just and Unifying Solutions To Invigorate Communities Everywhere Act of 2020) Act—which offered financial incentives for police departments to eliminate controversial policies.
Scott told CBS News in September 2021 that months-long negotiations over his bill and other police reform efforts broke down after Democrats “left the table.”
Looking forward, Jordan conceded that “we will look at what we think makes sense.”
“But we got a number of things we are going to look at in the Judiciary Committee and select committee as well,” he said.
House Republicans recently voted to establish a select subcommittee to investigate the “weaponization” of the federal government.
