House Republicans Propose Ways To Stifle Trump Prosecutors

 House Republicans are exploring ways to restrain prosecutors who have cases against former President Donald Trump as he runs for another term in the White House.

The most recent offering came from Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), who on Monday announced a pair of amendments that would use the appropriations process to defund federal and state prosecutions of any major presidential candidate in the lead-up to the 2024 election. The congressman specifically called out what he said were the “sham” Trump cases in his press release.

“We must use the power of the purse to protect the integrity of our elections, restore Americans’ faith in our government, and dismantle our nation’s two-tiered system of justice,” the congressman said in a post to X. “I’m proud to lead this effort, and I hope my GOP colleagues will join me.”

Trump is facing several criminal and civil cases. On the criminal side, Trump is facing a documents case and a 2020 election case led by special counsel Jack Smith. There is also a hush-money criminal case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and a 2020 election case in Georgia spearheaded by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Trump broadly denies any wrongdoing, setting the stage for trials across the primary calendar.

The amendments pitched by Clyde, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, face hurdles much like other proposals by Trump allies in Congress seeking to stymie the inquiries they have condemned as politically motivated.

Most prominent is the fact that the Senate is controlled by Democrats, who are likely not to support any legislation geared toward stymying the Trump inquiries.

“As a nation built on the rule of law, we urge Mr. Trump, his supporters and his critics to allow the legal process to proceed without outside interference,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) in a recent statement.

Even more immediate, GOP leadership in the House and a sufficient number of votes would be needed to pass anything through the lower chamber.

Still, those high bars have not stopped some prominent Republican lawmakers from trying their hand at pushing for some kind of action as Trump remains the clear front-runner in GOP primary polling ahead of what could be a general election rematch against President Joe Biden.

For instance, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has suggested Congress should stop any funds for “politically sensitive” investigations until the Department of Justice establishes a policy requiring non-partisan career staff to oversee them. More singularly focused on the Smith investigations, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) announced legislation last month that would defund the special counsel. And Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) has pushed forward legislation to defund taxpayer funding from the Fulton County District Attorney Office.

Then there are investigations into the investigators. House Republicans are conducting inquiries into the Department of Justice (DOJ), Willis, and Bragg, seeking to root out any potential coordination or other improper conduct.

One area in which the trials will not be affected is if the government undergoes a shutdown if spending bills fail to pass by the September 30 deadline, as explained by NBC News. While the state prosecutions would not be directly impacted, Smith’s office is funded by a “permanent, indefinite appropriation for independent counsels,” and a DOJ memo in 2021 said criminal litigation “will continue” assuming the Judicial Branch keeps on operating.

Whatever may come of the House Republican endeavors, in the meantime the criminal and civil cases against Trump have drawn a good deal of media attention and money — much of which has been directed to legal bills.