Four criminal indictments of Donald Trump have ignited his followers and spurred his House Republican allies to try to use the upcoming government funding deadline of Sept. 30 as leverage to undermine the prosecutions.

The bad news for them: A government shutdown wouldn’t halt the criminal proceedings against the former president.

Trump’s indictments in New York and Georgia would not be affected, while his federal indictments — for allegedly mishandling classified documents and for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection — are criminal matters that have been exempted from shutdowns in the past. The Justice Department said in a 2021 memo that in a shutdown, “Criminal litigation will continue without interruption as an activity essential to the safety of human life and the protection of property.” The Justice Department’s plans assume that the judicial branch remains fully operational, which it has said in the past can carry on for weeks in the event of a funding lapse.

As a result, Republicans are looking at ways to insert provisions in government funding legislation that would hinder federal and state prosecutors who have secured indictments of Trump, based on unproven claims that he’s being politically targeted.

  • TechyDad
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    3210 months ago

    They want to shut down any investigation/prosecution of anyone they deem to be above the law? So much for The Law and Order Party. Might as well toss that in the giant pile of lying slogans alongside Party of Small Government and Party of Personal Responsibility.

    • @NABDad@lemmy.world
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      2110 months ago

      They are the Party of Hate and Fear.

      I’d also accept the Fascist Party as an answer.

    • @crossover@lemmy.world
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      110 months ago

      “Law and Order” has always been coded language for “Using the power of state to enforce a social and economic hierarchy”.