Republicans fight to defund Trump prosecutions

WASHINGTON, D.C. (NEXSTAR) — Republican lawmakers are fighting to stop the prosecutions of former President Donald Trump on both the federal and state level.

Altogether, Trump is accused of dozens of crimes across four different cases. His allies are threatening to defund those prosecutions.

Congressman Andrew Clyde wants to stop funding from the state and federal prosecutors going after the former president. He plans to use the annual budget process to do that by introducing amendments to prohibit the use of federal money in cases against major presidential candidates before the 2024 election.

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“It’s wrong, what we’re seeing. And I think the only way to fix that is to defund it,” Clyde said. “Using the tremendous power of the federal government against a political opponent, I mean that’s clearly election interference.”

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is also promising to defund prosecutors.

“I’m not going to continue to fund the Biden regime’s weaponized government. So, there should be no funding for Jack Smith’s special counsel,” Greene said.

While Clyde says he believes Trump will ultimately be acquitted, he argues the legal fights still do damage.

“The penalty is the process, so you’re taking him away from being able to properly be able to campaign, you’re putting him in a courtroom, you’re forcing him to use his resources against a criminal prosecution,” Clyde said.

But the defunding effort is facing pushback from those who want to see the legal process play out.

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House Appropriations ranking Democrat Rosa DeLauro called out the Republican tactics.

“It is shameful that the majority’s baseless attacks on federal law enforcement have made the leap from irresponsible rhetoric into appropriations language,” DeLauro said. “This is naked politicization of our criminal justice system, and we cannot allow political influence over law enforcement activity to become the norm.”

Democrats add that even without Clyde’s amendments, Republicans haven’t been able to get their Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill out of committee. That means the controversial defunding provisions could only further complicate the heated budget process.

On a state level Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is taking on fellow Republicans. He criticized calls from Georgia lawmakers to impeach and defund Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is prosecuting the former president.

“As long as I’m governor, we’re going to follow the law and the Constitution, regardless of who it helps or harms politically,” Kemp said.

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