Welcome back to our
special breaking news coverage.
And still no comment
from the special counsel, Jack Smith.
No comment
when a CNN crew spotted him in D.C.
today and asked about the Target letter
he sent to Donald Trump.
CNN asking
whether the special counsel's office
is preparing
to indict the former
president over efforts
to overturn the 2020
presidential election
here in the United States.
Several congressional Republicans
are vowing to support Trump
despite his growing legal troubles.
Here's Texas Congressman Troy Nelson.
Listen.
Donald Trump is the leader of our party.
And Donald Trump
is going to beat Joe Biden.
In 20, 24 for a second time.
Why are they doing
everything they can to prevent him
from being on the ballot in 20, 24?
I'll tell you why.
Because Donald Trump will win in 20, 24.
And the left just they're scared
Let's bring in our
chief congressional correspondent,
Manu Raju.
He's up on Capitol Hill.
Manu, you got some colorful language
there from the congressman.
What more are you hearing from
Republican lawmakers?
The Republicans are trying to plot
exactly how to respond
to the news
that Donald Trump could potentially face
his third criminal indictment.
You've seen actions
taken already
in the other
indictments, including going
after the prosecutor
in New York over
the first Trump indictment
and then trying to ask for his testimony,
as well as seeking records
from Jack Smith himself
as part of the classified records probe.
And now there's calls
from some on the hard
right to defund the special counsel's
investigations altogether.
That includes coming from Congressman
Matt Gaetz,
who said that
you planned
to introduce a bill
to go
after the
special counsel's investigation.
And I just caught up
with Congressman Byron
Donalds, another one of Donald Trump's
prominent allies on Capitol Hill.
And he indicated that it may be time
to go
after the Justice Department's funding
when it comes time to fund
the government.
This is outrageous.
And Jack Smith is out of control.
What we are looking at
while we're dealing with appropriations
and some of the dollars
that are going to the relevant agencies
because of the Department of Justice
is going to have a two tier system
about how they choose
to investigate and prosecute them.
Maybe they don't need that much money.
Now, all of this is seen by Democrats
as a blatant way to interfere
with an ongoing criminal investigation,
tried to
go after this probe
without even
knowing any of the allegations
or evidence as outlined
by this potential indictment.
All we know is
what Donald Trump said
is that he is a target
of this investigation.
But, Wolf, even as his most prominent
allies are rushing to his defense,
many Republicans
on the Capitol, on Capitol Hill,
still saying staying silent.
Including the Senate Republican
leader, Mitch McConnell,
who just moments ago
would not answer questions about this
as he walked onto the Senate floor.
Also,
the speaker of the House
is much different
than the speaker of the House
who came out in aggressively
defended the former president
in the immediate
aftermath of this news,
just showing the divisions that continue
to persist on Capitol Hill
and within the Republican Party
over how to deal
with the former president
and these charges that could be coming
any day.
Republican lawmakers are jumping
to former President Trump's defense.
House Speaker
Kevin McCarthy, McCarthy
and other members of Congress
accused the Justice Department
of acting as a weapon for the Biden
and Biden Justice Department
and the Democrats.
CNN congressional correspondent
Lauren Fox is with us now.
So, Lauren,
this is more or less
what we've come to expect from
Republicans on Capitol Hill.
Yeah, Abbie, this news
broke yesterday
when House Republicans
were actually having a weekly conference
meeting behind closed doors,
meaning that they may not have had
all the nuances
of what exactly
was part of this target letter.
And yet
when they emerged from that meeting,
they were so quick to defend
former President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile,
this is just a latest
split screen
between House Republicans
and House Democrats
and how they're perceiving
the reality of a situation
There's little doubt
that former President Trump
was very specifically
and granularly involved in
trying to overturn
the results of the illegitimate
presidential election that he lost.
And this appears
to be the culmination of it.
And I expect Donald Trump to be indicted
in the near future. Yes, it's.
Yeah, that's my reaction.
President Trump
went up in the polls
and was actually surpassing
President Biden for reelection.
So what do they do now?
Weaponized government.
One more ridiculous thing from
the Justice Department is as wrong
as it gets.
And Republicans are vowing to use
the power of the appropriations process
to try to hold back
some funding to the Justice Department,
whether it be for a new FBI headquarters
or whether it be to the special counsel's
office investigating these matters
into former President Donald Trump.
But we should note
that there really is
a split screen between
how House Republican leadership
is dealing with this
and how Senate Republican leadership
is dealing with this.
I tried to ask Mitch
McConnell yesterday in the halls
specifically about this issue.
He did not respond to that question.
It's not abnormal
that he doesn't talk in the hallways.
But we should also note
he does not respond to questions
about former President
Donald Trump's legal woes.
You also had
John Thune, who's the Republican whip,
acknowledging the fact
that this continues to be a distraction
for the Republican Party.