Donald Trump, who was indicted last week and remains under federal investigation for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and refusal to return classified documents after leaving office, has called on Republican lawmakers to cut funding for the FBI and the Justice Department.
Congressional Republicans rushed to Trump’s defense after a Manhattan prosecutor indicted the former president last week for alleged violations of New York law. Trump seems to hope they’ll also defend him from any federal charges as criminal probes swirl around him.
“REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS SHOULD DEFUND THE DOJ AND FBI UNTIL THEY COME TO THEIR SENSES,” Trump wrote in a post on his website, Truth Social on Wednesday. “THE DEMOCRATS HAVE TOTALLY WEAPONIZED LAW ENFORCEMENT IN OUR COUNTRY AND ARE VICIOUSLY USING THIS ABUSE OF POWER TO INTERFERE WITH OUR ALREADY UNDER SIEGE ELECTIONS!”
The FBI last August searched Trump’s home in Florida for presidential records that should have been turned over to the National Archives after Trump left office.
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DOJ is also investigating Trump’s various efforts to interfere with the transfer of power after losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel to handle both cases.
Several far-right Republicans suggested defunding the FBI over their investigation into Trump. But Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have not signaled they would seriously consider defunding the Justice Department despite going to great lengths to defend Trump from the various criminal investigations.
Shortly after the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) ― who at the time was the House minority leader ― promised that if Republicans took control of the House of Representatives, they would retaliate against the Justice Department.
“The Justice Department has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization,” McCarthy said at the time.
Following Trump’s arrest and arraignment in New York Tuesday over allegedly falsified business records, McCarthy said that Republicans would go after Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, and suggested that any investigation of Trump is automatically illegitimate.
