Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) announced his intention to defund the investigation of special counsel Jack Smith into former President Donald Trump. The announcement comes as a number of congressional Republicans decried the announcement that Smith was probing the former president in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021 protest.
Gaetz made the announcement Tuesday, stating on Twitter that he would introduce “legislation to DEFUND Jack Smith’s witch hunt against President Trump.”
“They are attacking our democracy and engaging in election interference right now. The United States Congress has the capability to stop this election interference, and we must act immediately!” he wrote.
Gaetz also criticized a “lack of transparency” from the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding the investigation, referencing what he described as the partisan nature of the probe by former FBI Director Robert Mueller into the former president.
Mueller’s final report stated that Trump’s 2016 campaign did not collude with the Russian government.
Gaetz’s bill calls for the prohibition of “expending Federal funds for the Special Counsel’s Office of John L. Smith.”
“No funds authorized or appropriated by Federal law, and none of the funds in any trust fund to which funds are authorized or appropriated by Federal law, shall be expended” for the special counsel’s office, the bill reads.
Separately, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) wrote on social media that “Jack Smith has weaponized the federal government against President Trump in a complete lie about January 6 to cover up the crimes of Joe & Hunter Biden and their entire criminal family.”
“The Democrats want to arrest every one of their political opponents,” she wrote on Twitter. “It’s hard to recognize our country anymore.”
Jack Smith has weaponized the federal government against President Trump in a complete lie about January 6 to cover up the crimes of Joe & Hunter Biden and their entire criminal family.
The Democrats want to arrest every one of their political opponents.
It’s hard to recognize… pic.twitter.com/uK1NT8iKQQ
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) July 18, 2023
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), who endorsed Trump in the 2024 Republican primary, also came to the defense of the former president.
“There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice,” he wrote on social media Tuesday.
Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) said that “Never in American history have we seen the Weaponization of the fed like this to interfere in an election.”
