Dems to Weaponize ‘Defund DOJ, FBI’ Talk Against GOP

After blasting Democrats for supporting defund-the-police efforts, House and Senate Republicans are facing a similar Catch-22 as a result of their push to defund the FBI and the Justice Department, The Hill reports.

“Just because Democrats want to defund police, I don’t think it’s smart politically or as a policy to say, ‘Well, we should defund the FBI,'” Ohio Republican strategist Matt Dole told The Hill. “If we find that the FBI has acted wrongly, then they should be held to account, and we should make sure that can’t happen again.

“Does that mean defunding? I don’t believe it does.”

Former President Donald Trump, facing years of myriad investigations from partisan DOJ and FBI operatives, has called for the reduction of the bloated federal government law enforcement agencies, and now members of Congress are having to weigh putting their name on similar efforts that turned out so poorly for Democrats — especially in crime-infested Democrat-run cities.

President Joe Biden and Democrats’ messaging has hit Republicans for saying they are tough on crime while calling for reductions for the federal law enforcement entities.

“The idea that they would get on the opposite side of law enforcement agencies from where they have traditionally been is only going to make them look radical and foolish in the eyes of many of the voters they absolutely need: suburbanites and exurban voters who are already showing disdain for Trump-supporting Republicans,” Steven Smith, a former Brookings Institution fellow who now teaches political science at Washington University in St. Louis, told The Hill.

“Trump’s comments make it more difficult for Republicans who are tying their political future to him.”

Trump stirred up the issue this week with a post on Truth Social the day after he was arraigned on 34 counts of falsifying business records — an indictment even anti-Trump and Democrat-supporting legal experts denounced as weak and a clear example of a political prosecution.

“Republicans in Congress should defund the DOJ and FBI until they come to their senses,” Trump wrote Wednesday. “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!”

Notably, Trump was making the argument because justice was being weaponized, not because — as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has done — of an agenda to decriminalize and downgrade serious criminal offenses.

“I understand the former president is frustrated, but that’s not going to happen,” a Senate GOP aide told The Hill.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has openly supported investigations into Bragg’s use of his legal authority to engage in an effort to get Trump that he had politically campaigned on as Democrat.

Even anti-Trump Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a frequent target of Trump’s ire, has called out the DOJ and FBI for “harassing” conservatives.

“Here we go again — an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President Trump,” McCarthy tweeted March 18. “I’m directing relevant committees to immediately investigate if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions.”

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is weighing leading an effort to ostensibly defund the federal law enforcement agencies that use the political agenda to target their opposition as Bragg has.

“We control the power of the purse,” Jordan said Sunday, responding “yes” when asked if he meant the DOJ and FBI should be targeted for cuts. “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.”

Notably, Trump was calling out the DOJ and FBI, when it was a local prosecutor who brought the Manhattan grand jury together for the indictment of Bragg’s political target.

“The Department of Justice had nothing to do with this case. The FBI had nothing to do with this case. But we’re supposed to defund two entities that had nothing to do with the case,” GOP strategist Whit Ayres told The Hill. “Does that really make any sense to anyone?”

Democrats are taking notes and are expected to use this as an attack point in the 2024 election cycle, North Carolina Democrat strategist Morgan Jackson told The Hill.

“Donald Trump continues to show that everything he does — everything he says — turns off middle-of-the-road swing voters and frankly a lot of moderate Republicans,” Jackson said, calling the effort to defund the DOJ and FBI “incredibly problematic for Republicans who want to say that they’re strong on crime or accuse Democrats of being weak on crime.”

“What he does do is gin up his base who are absolutely convinced that every institution in this country is somehow spying on him.

“I think it creates a real problem for Republicans and Republican candidates. We saw this in 2022. It breeds the kind of Republican candidates that run for office that win these primaries and can’t win a general election.

“It puts Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, and every swing seat in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House in a position where Trump is the story all day, every day, whatever he says. That’s a bad thing for Republicans and a great thing for Democrats.”