Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) called for moving the FBI out of Washington, D.C., to decentralize the federal agency’s power.
“We don’t throw people in jail in Congress. That’s probably for good reason,” Gaetz told Fox News Tonight when asked about how to hold the FBI accountable. “We have to defang and defund the authorities that have been weaponized against the people. We have to get the FBI out of Washington, D.C.”
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Gaetz’s comments followed testimony from FBI whistleblowers given during a House Judiciary Committee and Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government hearing on Thursday. In tandem with the hearing, the committees released a report in which they called the FBI “politically weaponized.”
“There are good FBI agents and analysts around the country,” Gaetz, who is a House Judiciary Committee member, described testimony he heard. “There is pressure that comes out of headquarters and out of the Washington Field Office to do things that are against the law and the Constitution. When people are brave enough to push back, they are crushed. We have seen how the FBI has targeted President Trump and how they have targeted anyone who believes in the Second Amendment, or build the wall, or for goodness sake, the Betsy Ross flag. Now, we see how they go after their own.”
Gaetz said he supported the idea of Congress withholding funds from the FBI.
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“The lifeblood of the things you are concerned about, it’s the money. We have to cut off the money,” the Florida congressman noted, adding that the FBI should be moved to be under the jurisdiction of U.S. attorneys across the country.
“That way, everything isn’t centralized,” Gaetz said. “We also have to make organizational changes.”
