Donald Trump on Wednesday asked Republican lawmakers to cut funding for federal law enforcement because of the investigation surrounding the former president.
Congressional Republicans were quick to defend Trump after Manhattan prosecutors indicted Trump last week for allegedly breaking New York law. Trump seems to be hoping it will also defend him against possible federal charges.
“REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS SHOULD DEFUND DOJ AND FBI UNTIL THEY COME TO SENSE,” Trump wrote in a post on his website, Truth Social. “THE DEMOCRATS ARE DOING A LOT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT DISRUPTION IN OUR COUNTRY AND ARE USING THIS VIOLENCE TO DISRUPT AN ELECTION WHICH IS BEGGED!”
Some far-right Republicans proposed defunding the FBI last August after agents searched Trump’s Florida home for presidential records that were supposed to be turned over to the National Archives after Trump left office.
The Justice Department has also been investigating Trump’s various attempts to disrupt the transfer of power after losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel to handle the case.
Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have not signaled that they will seriously consider defunding the Justice Department — the idea was dropped from the initial budget proposal — but they have fought to defend Trump from multiple criminal investigations.
Shortly after the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — who was then the House minority leader — promised that if Republicans took control of the House of Representatives, they would retaliate. Department of Justice.
“The Justice Department has reached a state of politicization of guns that cannot be tolerated,” McCarthy said at the time.
Of course, this year, McCarthy created a new “Government Weapons” committee that seeks to cast doubt on the investigation of Trump and his supporters who stormed Capito on January 6, 2021, while the House Oversight Committee sought to impeach Biden. to the Chinese Communist Party and highlighted alleged mistreatment of Trump supporters held in DC jails for their role in the Capitol riots.
McCarthy said Tuesday, after Trump’s arrest and arraignment in New York over allegedly falsified business records, that Republicans would go after Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney. Bragg charged Trump with felonies for labeling payments to lawyers as business expenses when they were really reimbursements for hush money that amounted to illegal 2016 campaign expenditures.
Echoing the former president, McCarthy and other Republicans have suggested that any investigation of Trump is automatically invalid.
“Alvin Bragg is trying to disrupt our democratic process by using federal law to bring political charges against President Trump,” McCarthy said. said on Twitter. “Bragg’s weaponization of the federal justice process will be held accountable by Congress.”
Republicans also questioned whether the federal government funded the Bragg investigation and even suggested Biden could be the mastermind. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the weaponization committee, said Wednesday on Fox News that Biden had a “cheesy smile” when asked about the cost.
“What does that smile mean?” Jordan said. “I don’t know.”