Chuck Grassley: Republican calls to shut down FBI are 'stupid.' 'We've got to have an FBI'

Brianne Pfannenstiel, Des Moines Register
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U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said it’s “stupid” for Republicans to push to defund or shut down the FBI as they rail against political bias in the institution.

“Anybody that takes that position is stupid for saying it,” Grassley said Friday during a taping of Iowa Press on Iowa PBS. “We've got to have an FBI.”

Some Republicans in Congress have increasingly argued the FBI is being “weaponized” against conservatives and have pushed to cut funding. Former Republican President Donald Trump, who is facing 91 charges in four different criminal cases, has helped lead the charge.

On the presidential campaign trail in Iowa, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has gone even further, arguing the agency should be shut down entirely and replaced with something different.

“Obviously, things aren’t right with the FBI, from my point of view,” Grassley said. “But you don't defund the FBI to make that point. You reform the FBI.”

During a Sept. 8 speech in Okoboji, Ramaswamy said some government agencies such as the FBI should not exist to begin with or “have become so corrupted that they cannot be reformed.”

“We're not just gonna get in there and tinker around the edges,” he said. “No, we will get in there and shut them down. That is how you revive the integrity of a three-branch constitutional republic.”

Former Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen Pence, speak with U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, left, and his wife, Barbara Grassley.
Former Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen Pence, speak with U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, left, and his wife, Barbara Grassley.

Grassley said Republicans who have been critical of Democrats for wanting to defund the police should not then turn around and advocate defunding the FBI.

“For the last three or four years we've been making fun of the Democrats wanting to defund the police,” he said. “It's the same thing. … We don't want to defund the police. You can't defund the FBI.”

Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Chuck Grassley: Republican calls to defund, shut down FBI are 'stupid'