Rep. Dan Crenshaw on Sunday criticized fellow Republicans who continue to call for the FBI to be defunded over its search of former President Donald Trump’s private home.
Mr. Crenshaw, Texas Republican, has emerged as a leading critic of those like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, who advocate to “defund the FBI” — a position he compared to far-left Democrats’ calls to “defund the police.”
“It’s crazy, and it makes us seem like extremist Democrats,” he told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Marjorie and [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Democrat] can go join the ’defund the law enforcement’ club if they want; 99% of Republicans are not on that train. What we want is accountability. We want transparency.”
A federal judge will determine this week which parts of the affidavit used to justify the FBI’s search of Mr. Trump’s South Florida estate will be released.
The Justice Department vehemently opposes its release over concerns it may jeopardize its investigation of the former president for potentially mishandling classified documents and obstruction of justice.
The FBI has faced intense scrutiny by Mr. Trump and Republicans, who say the agency overstepped by targeting a former president. The FBI and the Justice Department have faced a barrage of threats in the wake of the search, both online and in person by armed individuals.
SEE ALSO: Liz Cheney says she’s ‘ashamed,’ ‘disgusted’ by GOP reaction to Trump raid
Mr. Crenshaw questioned whether the FBI “acted responsibly” in conducting a search, despite the agency retrieving more classified documents after Mr. Trump’s attorneys said they no longer possessed any.
Mr. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and said he has cooperated with federal agencies’ attempts to retrieve all classified materials that were taken when he left office.
“When you’re going after an ex-president who may run again, this is automatically political. You cannot separate the legal aspects of this from the political aspects of it. You can’t,” Mr. Crenshaw said. “It doesn’t seem to me like they have acted responsibly as a result of that.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.