Body Language and Behavior Analysis No. 4752: Jim Jordan responds to Jamie Raskin re Jordan's ignoring his Subpoena from the January 6th Committee – Nonverbal and Emotional Intelligence

Last week, the Republican House voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in Contempt of Congress for not releasing the audio of President Biden's interview with Robert Hur. They have been in possession of the official transcript of this interview for months.

216 Republicans voted for the Contempt of Congress charges against Merrick Garland: 206 Democrats and 1 Republican (Dave Joyce, OH-14) voted against contempt (One Republican and 7 Democrats did not vote).

What follows is a body language analysis of the above, crucial portion of Jim Jordan's response to Jamie Raskin today on the House Floor where Raskin called Jordan out for his ignoring of the January 6th Committee's subpoena. 

Anyone can fact check Jim Jordan here. Jordan is telling a blatant and verifiable lie. There is ample and well-documented history on this account.

Jordan refused to testify before the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack and he was referred to the DOJ for criminal investigation. 

But if this were a different person – or Jim Jordan's history was an unknown quantity, what clues does his body language reveal regarding his true thoughts and feelings during this response?

Immediately prior, Rep. Jamie Raskin had called out Jim Jordan and others – for holding Merrick Garland in Contempt of Congress, while pointing out to Jordan, et. al., had themselves refused to testify before the January 6th Committee when they had been subpoenaed.

Note Jordan's initial nonverbal response as he says, "Mr. Speaker, first of all, I never said, 'I wouldn't testify in front of the January 6th Committee'...", he is pointing at Rep. Jamie Raskin with his left index finger. 

 

 
Jim Jordan is right-handed. If he truly believed his own words in this moment, he would be pointing with his dominant hand, not his non-dominant hand.

He does not believe his own words. Jordan is lying.

Notice also, the diminutive configuration his right hand simultaneously holds. His dominant index finger is retracted (low confidence, emotional discomfort, deception) whilst his left (non-dominant) index finger feigns self-righteousness.

 

Moreover, Jordan does not hold his left hand still while pointing at Rep. Raskin, rather he simultaneously shakes it. This combination of body language is known as a 'finger-point-hand-chop'.

 
In addition, did you also notice that Jordan's eyelids are closed as he's left (non-dominant) index finger pointing? Extended duration blinking is a form of diminished eye contact (deception, distancing, shame). 

 

Whenever a person is being confronted with a lie or wrongdoing, and while pushing-back against their accuser/the accusation, if they're using a finger-point-hand-chop, there's an extremely high likelihood that they're lying.

Notice too Jordan's subsequent words, "... I just wanna know what the parameters of that, that testimony were gonna be ..." – Jordan uses both the past (were gonna be) and present tense (just wanna know) in the same sentence. Jordan also stutters (that, that). 

The mixing of tenses – as well as stuttering in a non-stutterer, while interpreted in isolation do not indicate deception, they're both reliable indicators of anxiety.

A moment later, Jim Jordan does recruit his dominant (right) hand, momentarily pointing with both index fingers – but now he's displaying a two-handed finger-point-hand-chop.

Jordan then reverts back to a primarily left (non-dominant) finger point (again, with another finger-point-hand-chop), while his right (dominant) hand, although still pointing, retreats to a much lower, subordinate position. 

 
Although Jordan does eventually recruit his right hand into his gesturing, his (non-dominant) left hand/left index finger was his initial hand/finger of preference, and it continued to play the dominant role in his nonverbal behavior.

SUMMARY: Jim Jordan's displays classic body language of deception in response to his being called out as guilty of committing Contempt of Congress while he accuses Merrick Garland of the same.

Inquiries regarding teaching (one-on-one or groups), keynotes, consulting, and press: Jack@BodyLanguageSuccess.com  

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