Four criminal indictments of Donald Trump have ignited his followers and spurred his House Republican allies to try to use the upcoming government funding deadline of Sept. 30 as leverage to undermine the prosecutions.

The bad news for them: A government shutdown wouldn’t halt the criminal proceedings against the former president.

Trump’s indictments in New York and Georgia would not be affected, while his federal indictments — for allegedly mishandling classified documents and for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection — are criminal matters that have been exempted from shutdowns in the past. The Justice Department said in a 2021 memo that in a shutdown, “Criminal litigation will continue without interruption as an activity essential to the safety of human life and the protection of property.” The Justice Department’s plans assume that the judicial branch remains fully operational, which it has said in the past can carry on for weeks in the event of a funding lapse.

As a result, Republicans are looking at ways to insert provisions in government funding legislation that would hinder federal and state prosecutors who have secured indictments of Trump, based on unproven claims that he’s being politically targeted.

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    1 year ago

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    WASHINGTON — Four criminal indictments of Donald Trump have ignited his followers and spurred his House Republican allies to try to use the upcoming government funding deadline of Sept. 30 as leverage to undermine the prosecutions.

    As a result, Republicans are looking at ways to insert provisions in government funding legislation that would hinder federal and state prosecutors who have secured indictments of Trump, based on unproven claims that he’s being politically targeted.

    The GOP desire to use Congress’ “power of the purse” to defend Trump, who is running for president again, took hold over the last two months and escalated after the latest indictment in Atlanta in connection with the ex-president’s attempt to overturn his 2020 election defeat based on fabricated claims of fraud.

    House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is publicly calling for party leaders to insert provisions into government funding legislation that changes how the Justice Department can use money.

    “Given the weighty federal interests at stake, the Committee is conducting oversight of this matter to determine whether any legislative reforms are appropriate or necessary,” Jordan wrote in a letter to Willis, giving her a Sept. 7 deadline to respond.

    Republicans, under political pressure from their pro-Trump voters, have sought to belittle all four indictments brought against the former president, which include detailed allegations of illegal activities presented to grand juries in multiple jurisdictions.


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