Jordan and his staff have gone on more than 55 trips funded by the Heritage Foundation, financial disclosure forms show. The conservative think tank opposes meaningful antitrust reform and has received more than $1.5 million in donations from Google, and $275,000 from Facebook. Jordan has participated in events for both the Heritage Foundation and the Koch network.
Jordan’s staff isn’t just accepting the tech sector money as a perk, either. The representative’s office is hiring people whose background predisposes them to oppose antitrust protections. For example, James Tyler Grimm, Jordan’s top adviser on tech issues, is an alum of the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University (GMU) in Fairfax, Virginia. The law school is home to the Global Antitrust Institute—which is funded by tech companies including Google, Amazon, and Qualcomm, and which teaches a more hands-off approach to antitrust regulation.
Grimm has received nearly $18,000 in private travel expenses from companies that oppose increasing antitrust protections, financial disclosure forms from 2016 to early 2023 show. He has also accused antitrust regulation of infringing on the “American dream” and punishing success.