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MTG Includes Defunding DOJ Trump Probes To List of Demands To Avoid Fiscal Crisis

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has announced that she will not support legislation to fund the government unless it includes cuts targeting ongoing criminal investigations into former President Donald Trump.

“The unprecedented demand will likely garner momentum among the furthest-right members of the House Republican caucus. It also complicates what’s already shaping up to be a contentious fight, with the federal government’s functioning and the potential for a fiscal crisis hanging in the balance. Once a fringe member of the caucus, Greene has emerged as a key ally of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy,” Business Insider reported.

Greene argued that the U.S. Department of Justice and FBI have “weaponized their power” against conservatives and everyone “aligned with Trump.”

“I’ve made up my mind. I will NOT vote for a budget that funds the two tiered justice system in America. The Democrat controlled DOJ and FBI top brass are political and have weaponized their power against the right to persecute everyone with conservative values and aligned with Trump, but refuses to prosecute the left for their crimes. The Republican controlled budget must defund the two-tiered justice system and reign in the politically weaponized DOJ and FBI, or I will not vote for it,” she said.

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Nick Dyer, a spokesman for Greene, issued a statement saying that the lawmaker was alluding to the Holman rule, a law that would allow Congress to target specific federal employees’ salaries and zero-out specific government programs.

Greene’s comments are in response to reports that “Trump is facing potential felony indictment over recording payments made to his attorney, which were then paid out to porn star Stormy Daniels in alleged hush money, as legal fees,” The Post Millennial reported on Saturday.

In January, House Republicans said they were going after the Holman rule and Democrats were not happy about it.

New York Democrat Rep. Ritchie Torres took to the House floor to complain that Republicans are resurrecting a rule to include language in appropriations bills that “can rearrange an agency or slash specific positions or salaries.”

“But the rule could also be used to target an individual over ideological differences or say a special counsel, like the one overseeing the Justice Department’s investigation into the presence of classified documents at former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate. Of course, the Democratic-led Senate would have to go along for any such rescissions to take effect, which is highly unlikely,” the Associated Press reported. “The House Freedom Caucus even specifically named Dr. Anthony Fauci in calling for the rule’s reinstatement. Fauci served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022, and his efforts to mitigate the damage from COVID-19 clashed with the views of some conservatives closely aligned with former President Donald Trump.”

Ritchie worried that “the Holman rule would enable House Republicans to zero out funding for a criminal investigation into Donald Trump.”

WATCH:

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Late last year, Greene spoke about the “Holman rule” and urged Republicans to impeach Attorney General Merrick Garland as well as block the use of taxpayer money for a special counsel to probe former President Donald Trump.

Greene called on the GOP to “refuse to appropriate any funding to Merrick Garland’s Special Counsel and defund any part of the DOJ acting on behalf of the Democrat party as a taxpayer-funded campaign arm for the Democrat’s 2024 presidential nominee.”

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In a tweet detailing the plan, Greene said that then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy would deny funding to the Department of Justice special counsel investigating Trump.

Greene said McCarthy would invoke the Holman rule, a procedural measure by which the House may adjust appropriations legislation to reduce the salary of or fire specific government employees. They may also use it to cut specific programs.

“Holman Rule. Look it up! [McCarthy] is going to put it in place,” Greene wrote. “That means no money for Garland’s politically weaponized Special Counsel. Don’t promise too many jobs! Whoops defunded.”

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