NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 04: Former U.S. President Donald Trump sits at the defense table with his defense team in a Manhattan court during his arraignment on April 4, 2023, in New York City. Trump was arraigned during his first court appearance today following an indictment by a grand jury that heard evidence about money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. With the indictment, Trump becomes the first former U.S. president in history to be charged with a criminal offense. (Photo by Seth Wenig-Pool/Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump urged fellow Republicans in Congress to shut down the government in order to thwart the federal prosecutions against him.
Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, “Republicans in Congress can and must defund all aspects of Crooked Joe Biden’s weaponized Government.”
He called it “the last chance to defund these political prosecutions against me and other patriots.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces challenges within the Republican Party as they disagree on spending legislation, necessary to prevent a shutdown by October 1. A subset of conservatives, with many fervent supporters of Trump, have made the situation more complicated as they present obstacles to McCarthy’s proposed short-term funding strategy.
The U.S. Justice Department previously said that any activities funded by “permanent indefinite appropriations” would continue regardless of any funding lapse.
Trump led a 35-day shutdown in 2019 when he and the 115th Congress were unable to agree on an appropriations bill that would fund the federal government’s operations for the fiscal year. They also couldn’t agree on a short-term resolution that would have given them more time to pass the bill.
Biden’s re-election campaign fired back in a statement: “Donald Trump is rooting for a government shutdown and couldn’t care less what it would mean for American families.”
Trump currently faces two federal trials. One is tied to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. The other is over his illegal possession of classified documents.
Both New York and Georgia are also prosecuting him on different charges, cases that a federal shutdown would not affect. In New York, the ex-president is accused of falsifying business records. In Georgia, Trump is accused of leading a scheme to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election results.
House Decomgratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries posted on X, “Trump ordered House Republicans to shut down the government. These people are too extreme to ever be trusted.”
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