Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., told Newsmax Friday that the way Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is prosecuting a criminal case against former President Donald Trump in New York gives Congress the oversight jurisdiction to hold him accountable, including the possibility of cutting off any federal funding to the city and state.
"[Congress has] already asked for Mr. Bragg to come on down for Oversight and Judiciary Committee hearings," Biggs said during "Prime News" Friday.
"But I think the next thing we're going to have to do, and this is going to be shaking out on the [House] Judiciary [Committee] side, is say is their funding going to this particular district attorney that comes from the federal government at all? Is there something going to New York City or the state from this?
"If so, then we probably need to start ratcheting that back."
Biggs said that Bragg's indictment this week of the former president relating to a 2016 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged affair the pair had years before, tries to "bootstrap" a New York State misdemeanor of falsifying business records into a federal campaign law felony, which would give Congress oversight authority. Trump has denied the affair.
"I remember a case [where] Oklahoma was trying to buck the federal system under [former President Barack] Obama, and [Congress] said, 'You're not going to get your transportation dollars unless you do what we tell you.' I hate to be that kind of guy," Biggs said. "But the reality is [Democrats] have corrupted and distorted and weaponized every institution in this country, and so we have to fight back with the tools that we have."
Biggs said that if a state is not following the federal Constitution, Congress has the right to step in and investigate, holding those responsible to account.
"When we see a state that is failing to honor the Constitution, and especially if they're receiving benefits from the federal government, we can step in and we can go after it and investigate and hold them accountable," he said. "I don't think any anybody would say that we shouldn't hold them accountable."
Biggs said that Democrats do not know history, and are lining up with the worst authoritarian regimes of the past, believing that you are guilty and must prove yourself innocent, the opposite of what is guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.
"They are perfectly in line with all of the Soviet Marxist maxims and authoritarian dictatorships that have been around the world for decades and centuries," he said. "They're going to go after you. They're going to use it against your political opponents, and that's why you're going to have to prove your innocence in their world.
"We don't live in their world. We live in the United States of America."
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