Trump’s government shutdown call to Republicans to ‘defund’ his criminal cases

Former President Donald Trump has urged fellow Republicans in Congress to shut down.

The government to thwart the federal prosecutions against him, although any funding lapse was unlikely to stop the cases from being pursued.

Republicans in the US House of Representatives are at odds over how to proceed with spending legislation, which must be passed to avert an October 1 shutdown. A small group of hardliners, including Trump’s most fervent supporters, have complicated the agenda for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as he pushed a short-term funding plan.

“Republicans in Congress can and must defund all aspects of crooked Joe Biden’s weaponised government,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social media site late on Wednesday, calling it “the last chance to defund these political prosecutions against me and other patriots”.

The US Justice Department has previously said activities funded by “permanent indefinite appropriations” would continue during any funding lapse.

The Special Counsel’s Office prosecuting Trump and his allies had no formal comment, but it is covered by “the permanent, indefinite appropriation for independent counsels,” according to its latest funding statement.

President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign accused Trump, the leading candidate by far in the 2024 Republican presidential nominating contest, of putting his own interests ahead of those of the country.

“Donald Trump is rooting for a government shutdown and couldn’t care less what it would mean for American families,” the campaign said in a statement. Biden, a Democrat, defeated Trump in 2020 and is seeking re-election in 2024.