GOP Rep Unveils Effort To Defund Prosecutors Going After Trump

Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia unveiled Monday his plan to use the appropriations process to withhold federal funding through the 2024 election from prosecutors who indicted former President Donald Trump, according to a press release.

Congress has until Sept. 30 to pass 12 appropriation bills in order to avoid a government shutdown, and Clyde is crafting two amendments to the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) legislation to defund Special Counsel Jack Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, according to the press release. Clyde, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, slammed the four indictments for being “overt election interference” and proposed that federal funding may not be allocated to the state or federal prosecution of “any major presidential candidate” until after November 5, 2024.

“Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars have no place funding the radical Left’s nefarious election interference efforts,” Clyde said in a statement. “Together, Jack Smith, Alvin Bragg, and Fani Willis intentionally brought four sham indictments against the sitting president’s top political opponent, President Donald J. Trump, as the upcoming 2024 presidential election ramps up. These bogus charges are undoubtedly intended to smear and take down President Trump, as well as hinder his ability to campaign effectively.”

Bragg handed down the first indictment of the former president in late March, where Trump was charged with allegedly falsifying business records when reimbursing a hush money payment made by former attorney Michael Cohen to porn star actress Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair.

Smith made the subsequent two indictments, with one in early June related to the former president’s alleged mishandling of classified documents and another on Aug. 1 for alleged involvement in Jan. 6 and alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Willis most recently indicted Trump and 18 others on Aug. 14 for alleged election interference in Georgia’s 2020 election.

“The American people get to decide who wins the White House — not Deep State actors who have shamelessly attacked Donald Trump since he announced his first bid in 2015,” Clyde said. “It is imperative that Congress use its power of the purse to protect the integrity of our elections, restore Americans’ faith in our government, and dismantle our nation’s two-tiered system of justice. I’m fully committed to helping lead this effort, and I call on my House Appropriations colleagues to join me in this righteous fight.”

The House Freedom Caucus released on Aug. 12 a list of demands to be included in the appropriations bills up for consideration once Congress returns to session in September. To gain the members’ support, the spending legislation must include the Secure the Border Act, address the “weaponization” of the Department of Justice and terminate the Pentagon’s “woke policies.”

The Caucus also emphasized that it wouldn’t support appropriations bills that provide “any blank check for Ukraine” and insisted that they wouldn’t back a continuing resolution to temporarily fund the government.