Republicans divided on attacking Trump probes
Republicans in Congress are splintering over how aggressively to run interference for former president Donald Trump as he faces potential criminal prosecution, with only his closest allies planning to directly attack the Department of Justice investigations now under the purview of special counsel Jack Smith.
The chasm between lawmakers who have continued to vehemently defend the newly announced presidential nominee and those who have started to quietly inch away from the former president widened last week as top GOP leaders laid out the party’s investigative priorities. The emerging split raises another sign of Trump’s uncertain position in the party after a month of taking blame for a disappointing midterm and drawing criticism for controversial statements.
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham, R-S.C., one of Trump’s staunchest allies who will be the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee next year, said he was less interested in going after the Justice Department for the Jan. 6, 2021, investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol or the investigation into Trump’s handling of classified information.
“I don’t see an interruption of an ongoing investigation into Trump, that’s going to play itself out one way or the other,” Graham said in an interview, focusing instead on President Biden’s son Hunter. “But I think DOJ and FBI need to be asked questions about what they told Facebook, Twitter and other media outlets about the Hunter Biden story.”
By contrast, Sen. Charles E. Grassley, RIowa, the current ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Ron Johnson, RWis., the ranking Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, are taking on the Trump investigations more directly, raising questions about the appointment of a special counsel for Trump but not for Hunter Biden or probes related to Hillary Clinton’s handling of emails in 2016.
The lawmakers said they have been approached by whistleblowers objecting to political considerations inside the FBI, which could serve to reinforce Trump’s claims of being unfairly targeted. Incoming House Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio is poised to press the Justice Department on the decision to search Trump’s Palm Beach, Fla., home as well.
The strategy resembles how Trump allies worked to undermine the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election by seizing on the FBI’s use of a dossier produced as Republican and Democratic opposition research.
“It’s an easy crutch for them to grasp and they’re grasping it because they can’t actually defend what he’s potentially going to be indicted for,” said one House GOP staffer, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly. “They lean on this as opposed to defending him on the facts, which they can’t do.”
Jordan’s counterpart on the House oversight committee, however, recently said in an interview that following up an investigation into classified documents found at Trump’s private club and estate in Florida “will not be a priority.” Incoming chairman James Comer, R-Ky., has been conducting the minority party’s own investigation into the August search warrant executed at Trump’s Mara-Lago estate but has indicated he favors prioritizing investigations next year examining Twitter’s handling of Hunter Biden reporting before the 2020 election and the origins of the coronavirus.