Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) said Thursday on CNN’s “Situation Room” that it was “nuts” for his Republican colleagues to call to defund the Department of Justice and FBI.
Krishnamoorthi said, “In the case of President Trump, he willfully retained the information, and then he’s alleged to have obstructed justice when the government was trying to get those documents back. What goes through my mind is you just don’t see many members of Congress implicated in these types of scandals. The main reason being that with us when we view classified information, it has to be in a secure facility. It’s usually in hard copy only, and guards are actually watching over our shoulders as we view the information. And then we have to return it once we finish.”
He continued, “If we’re able to successfully make sure that 535 members of Congress don’t get implicated in these types of situations, why can’t we do the same with others. And so we have to review the way in which classified information is treated and handled.”
Anchor Wolf Blitzer asked, “What’s your your reaction, Congressman, to your reaction of some Republican colleagues now calling to defund the Justice Department and retaliate against the special counsel?”
Krishnamoorthi said, “I think it’s nuts. I think if you defund the FBI and defund the DOJ, it sounds a lot like defunding the police. And that’s a bad idea. You know, when you do stuff like that, it makes all of us less safe. I think that we have to keep our eye on the ball.”
He added, “We should not be in the business ever of defending behavior such as that that was implicated in the indictment of former President Trump.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN