Dems Warn Trump and GOP Have Put Federal Workers in ‘Grave Danger’
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The increasingly caustic rhetoric aimed at the FBI, IRS, and other government agencies by former President Donald Trump and Republicans is putting everyday workers “in grave danger and at risk of violence,” warn top Democrats on two congressional committees.
On Wednesday morning, the chairs of the House Oversight Committee and its National Security Subcommittee issued a stark letter to the law enforcement agency tasked with protecting government employees, asking what it’s doing to deal with the onslaught of threats from right-wing extremists and the MAGA crowd.
“We are alarmed that leaders in the Republican Party have promoted false conspiracy theories and fueled violent threats against federal workers, putting the lives of law enforcement officials and other patriotic public servants at risk,” it reads.
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The letter is signed by U.S. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), who leads the Oversight Committee, and Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA), who chairs the National Security subcommittee. It is addressed to the Department of Homeland Security’s uniformed police division, the Federal Protective Service.
Powerful Republicans have spent weeks making regular appearances on Fox News and other conservative news outlets to scare Americans about armed IRS agents suddenly storming their homes, and they keep claiming that the Justice Department’s investigation into the former president’s mishandling of classified information is a political persecution that could spark a second civil war.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to fuel the fire by angrily posting on social media by directing anger against the FBI itself. His MAGA adherents make up the most boisterous contingent of the GOP and his movement serves as a Republican loyalty litmus test.
The letter cites nine examples, several of which it describes as “demonizing federal law enforcement officers and even hinting at possible violence.”
Topping the list is Trump’s recent speech in which he called the DOJ and FBI “vicious monsters” and warned about “a backlash the likes of which nobody has ever seen before,” an ominous warning that parallels his comments before the Jan. 6 insurrection he helped foment.
The letter also notes how Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) claimed on Fox News that “riots in the street” would follow if the DOJ were to prosecute Trump for illegally keeping Top Secret documents at his oceanside Mar-a-Lago estate. It notes that Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) recently tweeted that “we must destroy the FBI,” and Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) tweeted that “if they can do it to a former President, imagine what they can do to you.”
“The Committee is extremely concerned that this volatile threat environment puts federal employees in grave danger and at risk of violence,” the letter warns the DHS police agency. “We are also concerned that the financial resources available to FPS for its investigative and facility security functions… may not be sufficient to address current heightened threats against federal employees.”
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The letter on Wednesday follows another Oversight Committee action by Maloney on Tuesday, when she made public a letter to the National Archives and Records Administration that revealed archivists still aren’t sure they’ve recovered all of Trump’s presidential records—even after the FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago.
“This is important. The American people need to know that the nation's secrets are safe,” the congresswoman told The Daily Beast. “We want to find the documents. We want to know if Mr. Trump knows where they are.”
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