Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz announced Tuesday that he would introduce a bill to the House of Representatives “to defund” Special Counsel Jack Smith’s grand jury investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
“I will be introducing legislation to DEFUND Jack Smith’s witch hunt against President Trump,” Gaetz wrote on Twitter just hours after former President Donald Trump confirmed on social media that he had been notified he was a target in the investigation and expected to face an arrest and indictment.
“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!” Gaetz added.
In a video he included in his post, Gaetz argued Trump wouldn’t be facing a potential third indictment if he wasn’t a leading contender for president.
He also blasted what he called the “lack of transparency” from the DOJ regarding who is involved in the investigation, citing concerns stemming from “the team of vicious Democrats” that made up the Mueller investigation looking into alleged collusion between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.
Gaetz’s bill comes after Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges stemming from Smith’s investigation into his alleged improper retention of classified records at Mar-a-Lago last month. Trump also faces 34 felony charges in New York for allegedly falsifying business records.
The charges include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements. The indictment is the first time in U.S. history that a former president has faced federal criminal charges.
According to a statement from Trump on Tuesday, Trump has been ordered to report to a federal Grand Jury and was notified by letter on Sunday night.
“Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation and giving me a very short [four] days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment,” Trump said on Truth Social.
“This indicates Special Counsel Smith’s office has engaged in election interference by using his investigation to go after President Trump, who public polling has indicated is the leading contender in the 2024 Republican primary for president. In addition, his office has lacked transparency, failing to answer correspondence from my office to produce specific documents related to his staff and the investigation,” Gaetz said on Wednesday.
“The government is being weaponized to go after President Donald J. Trump. The House of Representatives must defund Jack Smith’s office and end the witch hunt,” Gaetz added. “The power of the purse is not some intermittent thing we wield every fiscal cycle. It’s something that we have to wield day in and day out to achieve victory for our people and to stop this. I’m under no illusion that the Democrats will bring such legislation up in the Senate, but the American people deserve to know where members of Congress stand.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said: “President Trump just increased his poll lead. So what does the Biden Administration do next? Weaponize government to go after President Biden’s number one opponent. This is not equal justice. It’s wrong, and the American public is tired of it.”
Trump defended himself in his social media posts Tuesday morning.
“Under the United States Constitution, I have the right to protest an Election that I am fully convinced was Rigged and Stolen, just as Democrats have done against me in 2016, and many others have done over the ages,” Trump wrote.
