A day after being arraigned in a Manhattan courtroom on state charges, former president Donald Trump said Wednesday that the Republican-led Congress should “defund” the Justice Department and FBI “until they come to their senses.”
A wholesale “defunding” of federal law enforcement agencies is unrealistic in a divided government and would certainly draw opposition even from some House Republicans. The idea would also stand no chance in the Democratic-led Senate and would face a veto from President Biden.
Trump’s comments, in a post on Truth Social, his social media site, echoed those of some Republicans, most notably Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who said on Sunday that Congress should “limit funds going to some of these agencies” in retaliation for their treatment of Trump.
Neither the Justice Department nor FBI is directly involved in Trump’s criminal prosecution by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), who has accused the former president of falsifying business records 34 times, as he wrote checks to his lawyer Michael Cohen to reimburse Cohen for $130,000 paid to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
The agencies, however, played a role in an earlier investigation of the episode and are key to other ongoing Trump investigations, including his retention of classified documents from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., and his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
“REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS SHOULD DEFUND THE DOJ AND FBI UNTIL THEY COME TO THEIR SENSES,” Trump wrote. “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 comments came amid others on Truth Social directed at his case in Manhattan, which Trump also railed about during a prime-time address Tuesday in Palm Beach hours after his court appearance.
Historically, Republicans — including Trump — has cast themselves as champions of law enforcement.
Trump, Jordan and other Republicans were highly critical of a left-wing movement to “defund the police” that gained traction in 2020 amid a series of episodes of police brutality at the local level. While the slogan was rejected by most congressional Democrats, Republicans used it to attempt to paint Democrats as weak on crime and gained seats in the House that year.
During an appearance Sunday on Fox News, Jordan threatened withholding funds from the Justice Department and FBI.
“We control the power of the purse,” Jordan told Maria Bartiromo, host of “Sunday Morning Futures.” “And we’re going to have to look at the appropriations process and limit funds going to some of these agencies, particularly the ones who are engaged in the most egregious behavior.”
“So the DOJ and the FBI?” Bartiromo asked.
“Yeah,” Jordan replied, ticking off examples of what he said were unfair treatment of Trump by law enforcement, including the investigation of possible coordination between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.