Trump Allies Take Out Anger on FBI Headquarters Project

In recent days, some House Republicans have begun coalescing around a plan to eliminate funding for a new FBI headquarters in response to the bureau’s role in the indictment, the most clearly defined piece of a multipronged attack on the Justice Department. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) has expressed support for the idea of scuttling the project.

“It sends a message to the FBI that they have to act more responsibly if they want us to spend over a billion dollars, way over a billion dollars,” said Rep. Andy Harris (R., Md.), a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

Democrats condemned Republicans for threatening to derail the long-awaited project. Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.), who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, said it would be “an enormous slap in the face of the literally thousands of FBI employees who work to protect the country.”

Warner has lobbied for the new facility to be located in suburban Virginia, while Maryland officials have pressed for it to be built in their state. The facility would replace the deteriorating J. Edgar Hoover Building in downtown Washington.

Asked about Republicans’ allegation of double standard, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said: “No one’s above the law, including Donald Trump, and there ought to be no political or ideological interference as the case moves forward.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) also has proposed a measure that would defund Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office and its investigation into Trump’s handling of the classified documents, while Sen. J.D. Vance (R., Ohio) said he would put a hold on all Justice Department nominees indefinitely, except for those nominated to serve in the U.S. Marshals Service.

“I think we have to grind this department to a halt until [Attorney General] Merrick Garland promises to do his job and stop going after his political opponents,” Vance said Tuesday.

Smith said last week that “we have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone. Applying those laws. Collecting facts. That’s what determines the outcome of an investigation. “

From support to condemnation, Donald Trump’s Republican rivals in the 2024 presidential race react to the former president’s indictment. Photo Composition: Rachel Rogers

While many Republicans have defended Trump, his mounting legal problems are causing heartburn for others, who worry the escalating scandals bode ill for the party’s chances in next year’s elections. 

“If you look at the record, in ’18, ’20 and ’22, when he’s the issue, we lose,” Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.) said of Trump.

Republicans lost control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections and of the Senate in 2020. In 2022, a red wave that some Republicans predicted never materialized, and many Senate Republicans blamed Trump for elevating Senate candidates who couldn’t win general elections.

Thune said he would rather the focus be squarely on President Biden

Trump also is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York. In May, a federal jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming advice columnist E. Jean Carroll and ordered him to pay $5 million in damages. Trump denies wrongdoing. 

Sen. Mike Rounds (R., S.D.) said Trump’s legal problems could undermine Republicans’ efforts to win back control of the Senate and keep the House majority.

“We have the unfortunate circumstance that the front-runner in the race to our nomination is now being indicted—first time as a federal, but the second time in the last several months,” Rounds said. “This is not good for our party.” Rounds also has endorsed Scott.

But Sen.

“This is really not a change, right? We’ve had two impeachment trials, multiple indictments, accusations, whatever,” Hawley said.

Other Republican lawmakers dodged questions about the latest indictment, saying they hadn’t read it, or complaining that Biden and former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton hadn’t been prosecuted over their handling of classified documents. 

A special counsel is investigating Biden’s handling of classified documents after some were found in his home and office. Clinton left the State Department in 2013 and turned over 30,000 of her emails the following year. The FBI reviewed those emails and found that 110 emails contained classified information “at the time they were sent or received.” 

Then-FBI Director James Comey declined to recommend prosecuting Clinton, saying that there were “obvious considerations, like the strength of the evidence, especially regarding intent.”

Rep. Ken Buck (R., Colo.) said Trump’s own criticism of Clinton in 2016 could come back to haunt him now.

“He said that Hillary Clinton was unfit for the White House because of the way she handled classified information,” Buck said on CNN Tuesday. “So I think his words have set the standard that America will look at in determining whether he is fit for the presidency,” Buck said.

Write to Lindsay Wise at [email protected] and Siobhan Hughes at [email protected]

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