Trump wrote on his Truth Social on Wednesday that “congressional Republicans should hold off on funding the Justice Department and the FBI until they come to their senses.” This is an apparent response to a Justice Department investigation into whether he was behind the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol and his manipulation of documents. classified documents found at his residence in a Florida estate.
Later, a Senate Republican source told The Hill that the idea would not win support in the upper house of Congress, where Republicans control 49 seats to Democrats’ 51 mandates. “I understand the former president is upset, but that’s not going to happen,” the source said, dismissing the idea that Republican senators would support using annual Justice Department and FBI appropriations as leverage.
Experts say Trump’s statement could cause tension between Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives, who say they are prepared to use their “power of the stock market” in terms of approving government spending to protect the former head of the White House.
Earlier this year, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell argued that the Biden administration and Democrats across the country were extremely weak on crime, but now he could face supporters of Trump in the House of Representatives threatening to cut funding to the nation’s top law enforcement agencies. .
One of those Trump allies is House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, who backed cuts to funding for the Justice Department and the FBI on Sunday. President Kevin McCarthy has already given Jordan the green light to review federal funding for District Attorney Alvin Bragg and other prosecutors investigating Trump. “I direct the appropriate committees to immediately investigate whether federal funds are being used to undermine our democracy through election interference in politically motivated persecution,” he said.
Some Republican strategists say Trump may have arguments that he is being treated unfairly by federal prosecutors, but warn that pressuring congressional allies to cut funding to the Justice Department and FBI could be going too far. . However, McCarthy, who relied on Jordan’s backing to win the presidency after 15 votes, gives his president enough resources to pressure federal prosecutors and investigators to back down Trump. “We control the power of the wallet, and so we’re going to have to look at the appropriation process and limit the funds going to some of these agencies, especially the ones that are behaving in the most egregious ways,” Jordan told Fox. News in an interview on Sunday.
Trump, despite all the allegations, intends to step up his efforts to nominate the Republican candidate for the 2024 US presidential election. And although Trump has been removed from official arrest, not placed in jail until the start of a retrial in December, he faces an impressive sentence – 136 years in prison on a combination of charges. At the same time, New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Mercan ordered the former president to refrain from rhetoric that could cause civil unrest in the country.
