The Senate plans to consider a resolution next week condemning Donald Trump’s call to “defund” the Justice Department and FBI, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a letter to colleagues Tuesday, setting up a vote that will test the loyalties of Republicans to the former president.
A day after being arraigned in a Manhattan courtroom on state charges last week, Trump said in a social media post that “Republicans in Congress should defund” the two federal law enforcement agencies “until they come to their senses.” His comments echoed those of several Republican House members, notably Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who has called for using Congress’s “power of the purse” against agencies that he claims have engaged in “egregious behavior.”
“Donald Trump’s call for defunding federal law enforcement agencies is a baseless, self-serving broadside against the men and women who keep our nation safe,” Schumer wrote in his letter. “The good work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice sends criminals to prison for bank robbery, sex trafficking, child pornography, hate crimes, terrorism, fraud and so much more. The former President and his allies in Congress must not subjugate justice and public safety because of their own personal grievances.”
A wholesale defunding of federal law enforcement agencies is unrealistic in a divided government and would certainly draw opposition even from some Republicans in the GOP-led House. As Schumer’s letter makes clear, the idea stands no chance in the Senate, and it would undoubtedly face a veto from President Biden.
By putting the issue to a vote in the Senate, Schumer is forcing Republicans to make the awkward choice of standing by Trump, now a 2024 presidential candidate, or supporting law enforcement. Democrats, who are often attacked by Republicans as weak on crime, will also get an opportunity to vote for a measure that praises “the dedication and devotion demonstrated by the men and women of Federal law enforcement agencies who keep the communities of the United States and the United States safe.”
Neither the Justice Department nor the FBI is directly involved in Trump’s criminal prosecution by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), who has accused the former president of falsifying business records 34 times, as he wrote checks to his lawyer Michael Cohen to reimburse Cohen for $130,000 paid to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. Trump pleaded not guilty.
The agencies, however, played a role in an earlier investigation of the episode and are key to other ongoing Trump investigations, including his retention of classified documents from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., and his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
“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 wrote last week on Truth Social, his social media platform, in his call to defund the agencies.
Historically, Republicans — including Trump — have cast themselves as champions of law enforcement.
Trump, Jordan and other Republicans were highly critical of a left-wing movement to “defund the police” that gained traction in 2020 amid a series of episodes of police brutality at the local level. While most congressional Democrats rejected the slogan, Republicans used it to attempt to paint Democrats as weak on crime, and gained seats in the House that year.
During an appearance this month on Fox News, Jordan threatened withholding funds from the Justice Department and FBI.
“We control the power of the purse,” Jordan told Maria Bartiromo, host of “Sunday Morning Futures.” “And we’re going to have to look at the appropriations process and limit funds going to some of these agencies, particularly the ones who are engaged in the most egregious behavior.”
“So the DOJ and the FBI?” Bartiromo asked.
“Yeah,” Jordan replied, ticking off examples of what he said were unfair treatment of Trump by law enforcement, including the investigation of possible coordination between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.
Schumer said the Senate resolution, in addition to praising federal law enforcement and condemning the call to “defund” the agencies, rejects attempts by “Trump and his allies to degrade public trust in Federal law enforcement agencies for attempted political or legal benefit.”