Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday joined MAGA House Republicans who are using his indictment in Manhattan to push for Congress to “defund” federal law enforcement.
“REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS SHOULD DEFUND THE DOJ AND FBI UNTIL THEY COME TO THEIR SENSES,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “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!”
Trump’s call to action against the FBI and the DOJ (and notably not against district attorneys who are supposed to be the enemy du jour) comes just one day after his arraignment, where he pleaded not guilty to criminal charges brought against him in New York – 34 counts of charges of falsifying business records.
The former president also gave an angry speech Tuesday night at Mar-a-Lago, criticizing the various prosecutors investigating him — including the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
It appears Trump is following his loyal foot soldiers’ lead. On Sunday, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan (R-OH) suggested House Republicans are considering using their thin majority to try to cut funding for federal law enforcement.
“We control the power of the purse… We’re gonna have to look at the appropriations process and limit funds going to some of these agencies, particularly the ones who are engaging in the most egregious behavior,” Jordan said during a Fox News interview.
When Fox anchor Maria Bartiromo asked if he meant the DOJ and the FBI, “Yeah,” Jordan replied.
“And what I’d really like, frankly, I’d really like for the government just to stay out of the election process,” he added, pulling a line from Trump’s conspiracy theory playbook.
Jordan and Trump’s threats to defund federal law enforcement are unlikely to go anywhere in a Congress where Democrats still control the Senate.
But Jordan is not the only MAGA-aligned lawmaker to call for defunding federal law enforcement after relentlessly attacking progressive Democrats for years for their interest in overhauling local police department’s budgets and investing more in community programming.
Following the Mar-a-Lago raid last year, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) repeatedly called for defunding the FBI.
“DEFUND THE FBI!” she tweeted in an all-caps post, similar to Trump’s screaming Truth Social rants.
And in March, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) pushed for the same idea.
“We either get this government back on our side or we defund and get rid of, abolish the FBI, the CDC, ATF, DOJ, every last one of them if they do not come to heel,” he said at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
