Former President Donald Trump after pleading not guilty to 34 criminal charges before the Manhattan court in New York called on Wednesday his party members in Congress to cut funding for the Department of Justice and FBI. The former president who is also a contender for the Oval Office in 2024 targeted the federal law enforcement departments without any apparent reason as the criminal charges that are filed against him were not by the federal departments but Manhattan district attorney.

However, former president 76, is facing two criminal investigations initiated by Justice Department led by Special Counsel Jack Smith — appointed by US Attorney General Merrick Garland. Special Counsel is investigating a case in which Trump is being probed for his attempts to influence the election results which he lost to Joe Biden in 2020. Another investigation is concerned with the secret documents that Trump kept with him even after his departure from the White House.

On his social media platform Truth Social, the former president noted that "REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS SHOULD DEFUND THE [DEPARTMENTR OF JUSTICE] AND FBI UNTIL THEY COME TO THEIR SENSES." Trump's urge to his Republican House members does not seem to be taken further as Democrats are in majority in the Senate and Republicans in the House of Representatives.

Even doing so would be backing off from Republicans' support which they extended in the past regarding more financial funding. Earlier, they had also criticised the proposals put forth to cut funding for the local police departments. The FBI — a part of the Justice Department — is the domestic security and intelligence agency of the US.

The current FBI Director Christopher Wray was appointed by Trump himself in 2017. While in Oval Office, Donald Trump supported the robust increase in the spending for the Justice Department and its budget saw an uptick of 4% — $38.7 billion. The call to cut funding for the departments would not have any impact on another investigation — led by a county prosecutor in Georgia — that also focuses on Trump’s efforts to influence the elections which he lost back in 2020.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP