OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) hinted that he would support a measure to defund special counsel Jack Smith’s ongoing investigation into former President Donald Trump following two indictments.
In an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, Jordan was discussing the GOP-led House’s efforts to pass appropriations bills before the end of the month, when the government runs out of money when he brought up funding for Smith’s investigations:
Well, there’s been, there’s been a fight over the number. What level we’re actually going to fund at? Look, I want to reduce spending too. I know what the debt problem is. But in a divided government, there’s been a number that’s agreed on to fund the government.
And frankly, it’s less than the year before, which is, which is a huge step when you got divided when, when, when we control one-half of one-third of the government by five votes. And we’ve actually got to negotiate a number that’s less than Joe Biden and the Democrats spent last year. I think that’s a win. So let’s hold on to that number if we can. There’s some, there’s some debate within our conference, and I get that, let’s hold on to that number if we can. But let’s win the policies.
The other policy frankly, we should consider putting on these bills is the policy that says you can’t, you can’t fund the attack on your political opponent, which is exactly what Joe Biden is doing when he’s funding this Jack Smith operation going after his political opponent.
Jordan is not the only Republican who has mentioned defunding Smith’s probe, especially after a special counsel appointed in January to investigate President Joe Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified materials — Robert Hur — hasn’t been heard from since.
Rep. Matt Gaetz offered up legislation in July that, if passed, would defund Smith’s investigations.
According to Florida Daily, Gaetz said there is a reasonable intention behind his measure, and that is to let American voters know where their individual representatives — particularly GOP lawmakers — stand on the issue.
“Rep. Gaetz’s bill would block federal funds authorized or appropriated by federal law or any funds in any trust fund of the federal government from being used for Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office and investigation,” Gaetz’s office noted in a statement.
“On July 18th, 2023, President Donald J. Trump released a statement indicating he is the target of the investigation by Special Counsel Smith related to January 6th. This indicates Special Counsel Smith’s office has engaged in election interference by using his investigation to go after President Trump, who public polling has indicated is the leading contender in the 2024 Republican primary for president,” the statement continued.
“The government is being weaponized to go after President Donald J. Trump. The House of Representatives must defund Jack Smith’s office and end the witch hunt,” said Gaetz. “The power of the purse is not some intermittent thing that we wield every fiscal cycle.
“It’s something that we have to wield day in and day out to achieve victory for our people and to stop this. I’m under no illusion that the Democrats will bring such legislation up in the Senate, but the American people deserve to know where members of Congress stand,” he said.
“I will be introducing legislation to DEFUND Jack Smith’s witch hunt against President Trump,” Gaetz wrote on Twitter, now called “X,” just hours after Trump announced on Truth Social that he was going to be indicted by Smith for the first time.
“They are attacking our democracy and engaging in election interference right now. The United States Congress has the capability to stop this election interference, and we must act immediately!” Gaetz noted further, per Fox News.
