Republican Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde slammed his GOP colleagues Tuesday after an amendment he introduced to defund the “lawfare” against presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump failed due to a lack of support from his colleagues.
Clyde introduced an amendment during the House Appropriations Committee markup of the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS) appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2025. The amendment ended up failing by a vote of 25-26, something Clyde and Mike Davis, a legal adviser to Donald Trump, are blaming House Republicans for.
The amendment states that: “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used, prior to November 5, 2024, to prosecute a person that is a declared candidate for President of the United States as of the date of enactment of this Act.” It failed, however, due to eight Republicans not voting and one Republican voting against the amendment.
Republican Arizona Rep. Juan Ciscomani, Florida Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, California Rep. Mike Garcia, Texas Rep. Kay Granger, Mississippi Rep. Michael Guest, Ohio Rep. David Joyce, Washington Rep. Dan Newhouse and California Rep. David Valadao all did not vote for the amendment during the markup. Meanwhile, Republican Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson voted against the amendment.
The Caller contacted all of their offices about the vote, to which most did not immediately respond.
Díaz-Balart’s office told the Caller: “Per the request of President Trump, the Congressman is in his district with the President.”
Simpson defended his vote, saying: “I firmly believe the trials against President Trump are politically motivated and utter nonsense. I am grateful the Supreme Court has acted as a balancing force against the Democrats’ weaponization of the judicial system. However, prohibiting the use of funds for investigations sets a dangerous precedent – potentially limiting Republicans’ ability to investigate President Biden’s wrongdoings. For that reason, I could not support this amendment.”
I’ve been fighting to DEFUND the Left’s lawfare against President Trump for nearly a year.
The American people are sick and tired of all talk and no action.
Enough is enough. Let’s get it done.
🧵⬇️ pic.twitter.com/7tryLQfGIg
— Rep. Andrew Clyde (@Rep_Clyde) June 6, 2024
“It’s no secret that the Left has weaponized our justice system into the election interference arm of the Democrat Party. Americans are counting on Republicans to eliminate this injustice, which is why I’ve been working to use the power of the purse to bar taxpayer-funded lawfare. Yet today, the House Appropriations Committee didn’t adopt my amendment to defund political prosecutions. My measure fell short of receiving enough support because several of my Republican colleagues conveniently ‘missed’ the vote. I’m deeply disappointed — but I’m not giving up,” Clyde told the Caller.
Clyde also said he will try to introduce this amendment again in coming weeks.
“I intend to once again lead this critical amendment when the FY25 CJS appropriations bill comes to the House floor in the coming weeks. I implore my fellow House Republicans to join the fight to protect the integrity of our elections, restore Americans’ faith in our government, and dismantle our nation’s two-tiered system of justice. The American people will be watching,” Clyde added. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Trump-World Lawyer Sends House GOP Playbook For How To End Biden ‘Election Interference’)
Davis also ripped House Republicans, saying the reason this amendment failed was because the lawmakers can’t even show up to work.
“President Biden, his aides, and his allies are engaged in a criminal conspiracy to interfere in the 2024 presidential election with their unprecedented lawfare against President Trump, his top aides, like Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, who are sitting in prison right now, his attorneys like John Eastman, Jeff Clark and Rudy Giuliani and his supporters on January 6th. House Republicans have let these Biden Democrats walk through an open door for the last nearly four years, and they can’t even be bothered to show up to work, to vote to end this Republic ending lawfare,” Davis told the Caller. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: One Of Trump-World’s Favorite Lawyers Hatched Playbook With House GOP On Ending Biden Lawfare Against Trump)
In late May, Davis, the founder and president of the Article III Project, sent a letter to every House Republican calling on them to do everything they could to fight back against President Joe Biden’s “lawfare” against the former president. The letter included six bullet points he believes House Republicans needed to utilize in order to properly defend Trump against the ongoing prosecutions brought forward by Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) and Democrat state and local prosecutors.
