Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) announced on Tuesday that he is introducing a resolution that calls for halting funds dedicated to the FB...
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) announced on Tuesday that he is introducing a resolution that calls for halting funds dedicated to the FBI‘s next headquarters over concerns about politicization at the bureau.
The congressman specifically decries the FBI’s Washington Field Office, which Gaetz said is “weaponized” and “rotten to the core.” Still, Gaetz acknowledged there “are still good men and women in the FBI whose task and purpose are to defend” the United States.
Titled the “FBI Washington Field Office House Arrest Act,” Gaetz’s resolution outlines a number of alleged misdeeds by the satellite office, including targeting parents critical of school board decisions and colluding with private sector companies during elections to censor information.
The resolution ultimately urges the GOP-led House to rally around the “sense” that no “money should be appropriated for the General Services Administration or the Federal Bureau of Investigation to either plan to, or acquire property for, a new, consolidated headquarters outside the District of Columbia.”
In a statement, Gaetz takes particular aim at $375 million in funds from last year’s omnibus spending bill dedicated to the construction of a new facility in either Maryland or Virginia and cited findings from an investigation by the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. Gaetz is a member of the panel.
“Through our investigations in the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, we have uncovered extremely disturbing testimony from FBI whistleblowers that the Washington Field Office is targeting Americans who oppose their corrupt political agenda,” he said.
Gaetz said the resolution will be co-sponsored by Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Dan Bishop (R-NC), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Harriet Hageman (R-WY).
The FBI declined to comment on the resolution when pressed by The Daily Wire.
Gaetz’s announcement marks the latest stand taken by GOP lawmakers who say the Justice Department and FBI have unfairly treated Republicans and conservatives in recent years.
Judiciary Committee Democrats have been decidedly skeptical of these claims. They compiled a report last month raising questions about the credibility of the FBI whistleblowers who have come forward to the panel.
“House Republicans have found very few facts to fit their favorite talking points, even if it does not convince our colleagues to change their ways,” wrote Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI).
In a recent interview, FBI Director Christopher Wray downplayed how all the “noise” affects his day-to-day work.
“We’re not well-served by wading into the fray, taking the bait and responding to every breathless allegation,” Wray told the Associated Press. “So we will continue to push back and correct the record when we appropriately can. But as long as I’m director we’re going to follow the FBI’s long history and tradition of letting our work do the talking.”
The FBI’s current headquarters, the J. Edgar Hoover Building, started being built in Washington, D.C., during the 1960s and was completed in the 1970s. The federal government has been looking to get a new headquarters in the D.C. area for more than a decade now. Delegations from Maryland and Virginia are fighting over the project as the General Services Administration weighs locations selected in both states.
Gaetz argued his resolution would help stop Congress from showing support for a D.C. powerhouse that is on the brink.
“The cancer at the Washington Field Office has metastasized so large that the entire body is in critical condition,” he said. “Gifting the FBI a new headquarters larger than the Pentagon would condone, reinforce, and enable their nefarious behavior to levels we have never seen before.”