Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) are reportedly exploring legislative avenues to fund the government that might obstruct the criminal prosecutions of Trump.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is pushing to cut off funding for Smith’s office, which has indicted Trump in the Jan. 6 criminal investigation and a Florida case over his handling of classified documents. “The House of Representatives must defund Jack Smith’s office and end the witch hunt,” Gaetz said in a statement. Another Trump ally who has the ear of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is supporting that push.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is publicly calling for party leaders to insert provisions into government funding legislation that changes how the Justice Department can use money. That includes barring it from conducting “a politically sensitive investigation” — which includes political candidates and family — “until the Department of Justice establishes a policy requiring non-partisan career staff to oversee such investigations.”
It doesn’t matter if people like Gaetz and Jordan face an uphill battle in using their power to hinder the prosecution of Donald Trump. There should be a bipartisan agreement that any member of Congress who would entertain the thought of using their power to interfere in a criminal prosecution does not belong in Congress.
This is not politics as usual or normal. Congress and members of Congress should never function this way. There are three separate branches of government by design. The legislative branch should not be meddling with the work of law enforcement.
Republicans do not want Trump to face a jury because they are afraid that he will be convicted, but those House Republicans who are trying to protect Trump by abusing their power are guilty of violating their oaths of office and betraying the American people.