On his podcast, Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz said he would file legislation to defund Jack Smith’s investigations against former President Trump. Smith is the special counsel appointed to investigate Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Hours after Trump claimed to have been informed that he is a target of the DOJ’s investigation into the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, and the subsequent attempts to alter the results of the 2020 presidential election, Gaetz made the statement.
Gaetz has threatened to cut funding for the Jack Smith inquiry after claiming that foreign actors are currently waging war on our democracy and interfering with our elections.
The Justice Department has not responded to his requests for information regarding who is on Smith’s team, so he claims the probe is not open to public scrutiny.
Gaetz is on the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives. Ohio Republican and committee chairman Jim Jordan has said he wants to cut funds for the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He says these organizations have been “weaponized” due to their use for political ends.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga) initiated an investigation into the matter, and she recommended defunding Smith’s office when Trump was arrested in connection with the records seized at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Gaetz said he knows neither President Biden nor New York’s Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will sign his idea into law.
He said the public has the right to see how their congressional representatives stack up. He questioned if they would sign on as a cosponsor to his bill.
It would be Trump’s third indictment of the year and second on federal charges if the probe that began on January 6 results in an indictment. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the remaining charges against him. The Smith-led investigation involved Trump’s possession of sensitive papers at Mar-a-Lago, while the Manhattan case stemmed from allegations linked to an alleged hush money scam.
In a statement released Tuesday, Trump emphasized his assertion (with all caps) that the current investigations are a witch hunt entirely focused on election tampering.
