UPDATED 10:45 A.M.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on his fellow Republicans in Congress to slash funding for the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI, going on the offensive a day after pleading not guilty in New York to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Trump, who is seeking to regain the presidency in 2024, took aim at federal law enforcement authorities even though the historic criminal charges against him – the first brought against any former or sitting president – were pursued by the Manhattan district attorney.
“REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS SHOULD DEFUND THE DOJ AND FBI UNTIL THEY COME TO THEIR SENSES,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. DOJ stands for the Department of Justice.
Republicans in the past have supported robust funding for law enforcement and have criticized proposals from some on the left in recent years to “defund” local police departments. Trump, who served as president from 2017 to 2021, backed spending increases for the Justice Department and FBI while in office. The FBI is the U.S. domestic intelligence and security agency.
Trump faces two Justice Department criminal investigations led by a special counsel appointed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. One focuses on efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election that he lost to Democratic President Joe Biden and the other focuses on classified documents that Trump retained after leaving office.
Trump himself appointed the current FBI director, Christopher Wray, after firing the agency’s previous chief, James Comey, in 2017.
Congress appears unlikely to follow through on Trump’s demand. Republicans control the House of Representatives and Democrats control the Senate.
The FBI on Wednesday declined to comment on Trump’s remarks.
Reduced funding for federal law enforcement also would not affect another criminal investigation involving Trump led by a county prosecutor in Georgia, focusing on whether he unlawfully sought to overturn his 2020 election loss in that state.
The office of Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, charged Trump on Tuesday with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records over allegations that he orchestrated payments to two women before the 2016 election to suppress publication of their sexual encounters with him. Prosecutors said the payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal constituted an attempt to conceal a violation of election law.
Opinion polls show Trump as the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination as he seeks to deny Biden a second term in office.
Trump has over the years complained that law enforcement at the national and state level were targeting him for political purposes, and his fellow Republicans in Congress have held hearings to examine what they describe as the “weaponization” of government.
Trump and his allies have accused Bragg, a Democrat, of bringing the charges for political reasons. Bragg in comments after the charges were brought on Tuesday said he has a responsibility to ensure everyone stands equal before the law.
Trump appeared at an arraignment in New York on Tuesday before flying back to his home in Florida to make public remarks. He declared himself the victim of election interference, without offering evidence.
“I never thought anything like this could happen in America,” Trump told supporters gathered at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. “The only crime that I’ve committed has been to fearlessly defend our nation against those who seek to destroy it.”
Trump accused Bragg of being out to get him “before he knew anything about me.” He said the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, is “a Trump-hating judge.”
Merchan has set the next hearing in the Trump case for Dec. 4. Legal experts said a trial may not even get under way for a year. Indictment or even conviction does not legally prevent a person from running for president.
(Reporting by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Will Dunham and Andy Sullivan)
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PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) -A subdued former President Donald Trump lashed out on Tuesday at New York prosecutor Alvin Bragg for bringing criminal charges against him and declared himself the victim of election interference without offering evidence.
“I never thought anything like this could happen in America,” Trump told supporters gathered at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida. “The only crime that I’ve committed has been to fearlessly defend our nation against those who seek to destroy it.”
Earlier, Trump pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan court to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, as prosecutors accused him of orchestrating payments to two women before the 2016 election to suppress publication of their sexual encounters with him.
Trump, running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, on Tuesday night in Florida gave a relatively short speech, 25 minutes, compared to his rally speeches that can sometimes last two hours.
Despite launching a tirade against prosecutors, he did not call for new protests from his supporters. And while he is expected to return to the campaign trail soon, he gave no details of that.
Trump, 76, reached deep into his well of personal grievances to declare himself hounded by political opponents using the legal system against him to try to stop him from winning back the White House in 2024.
Trump accused Manhattan District Attorney Bragg of being out to get him “before he knew anything about me.” He said the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, is “a Trump-hating judge.” But he did not offer any evidence to support his claim that they were taking their actions in order to undermine his White House bid.
ATTACKS LEGAL CASES
Trump took fresh shots at all the various legal cases against him, from the handling of classified documents that were taken to Mar-a-Lago when Trump moved out of the White House in early 2021, the probe into the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol and the election interference case he is facing in Georgia from the 2020 election.
Trump expressed particular concern about the documents case being investigated by special counsel Jack Smith, who he called a “lunatic” several times.
He said the cases amount to an attempt to thwart his third run for the presidency, calling it “massive election interference at a scale never seen.”
Gathered before him in a gilt-edged ballroom at Mar-a-Lago were a number of combative, diehard Trump backers, including Republican lawmakers Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz, long-time operative Roger Stone, pillow maker Mike Lindell, former U.S. ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell and Trump sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
Trump’s wife, Melania, was not seen in the ballroom.
SHOW OF SUPPORT
Among the hundreds there was Nathan Mitchell, 18, the incoming president of the Florida Atlantic University’s college Republicans club.
He said he was there to support a man who represents “the best chance that America has to become great again.”
Of the accusations brought against Trump, Mitchell said, “It humiliates us all in front of the world.”
Wearing a black leather biker vest, with a “Born to Ride” patch above the number 45, Alex Gonzalez, 45, who operates a security company in Palm Beach said he was there to show the former president that the people believe in him.
“It’s all a charade, man, it’s all a witch hunt,” Gonzalez said of the indictment. “Trump should not be held above the law – if he does something wrong he should be held liable like anybody else. But this is BS and everybody knows it.”
(Reporting by Nathan Layne and Rich McKay in Palm Beach; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Grant McCool)
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