Cruz slams Biden’s ‘politicized’ DOJ for appointing Trump’s special counsel: ‘Absolutely shameful’

LAS VEGAS – FIRST ON FOX: Senator Ted Cruz has criticized the Biden administration, saying it has “completely politicized and militarized” the Justice Department, while telling Fox News that the appointment of a special counsel to investigate former President Trump is “absolutely shameful”.

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday appointed former Justice Department official Jack Smith as special counsel to investigate the entire criminal investigation into the retention of presidential records held at Trump’s Mar- a-Lago.

Smith will also oversee the DOJ’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol Riot.

TRUMP SAYS HE ‘WILL NOT PARTICIPATE’ IN SPECIAL ADVISER’S INVESTIGATION, SLAMS AS ‘WORST POLITICIZATION OF JUSTICE’

Cruz, R-Texas, during an interview with Fox News Digital on the sidelines of the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference in Las Vegas, criticized the nomination and warned against the Biden administration’s plans to “indict ” the former president.

“Biden’s Justice Department is completely politicized and weaponized,” Cruz told Fox News Digital. “It’s a cover-up designed to set up the next step – which is that Biden’s Justice Department intends to indict Donald Trump.”

Cruz said it was “the culmination of the deliberate militarization of law enforcement — this administration sees the Justice Department and the FBI as the enforcers of their partisan priorities.”

“That has never happened in the history of our country,” Cruz said. “We’ve had 46 presidents and if you go all the way back to George Washington, no administration has ever raided the home of a former president – ​​no administration has ever attempted to indict a former president.”

The FBI conducted an unprecedented raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home on Aug. 8 and seized classified records, some marked top secret, according to a warrant and property receipt.

TRUMP TARGETED: A LOOK AT INVESTIGATIONS INVOLVING THE FORMER PRESIDENT; FROM RUSSIA TO MAR-A-LAGO

Trump and his legal team said records held at Mar-a-Lago were declassified when Trump was in the White House, but the Justice Department says Trump illegally kept national defense information at his home.

Cruz, however, said that “tragically” the “behavior” of the FBI is only seen in “banana republics” and in institutions “where there is no rule of law, where enforcement of the law is seen simply as a political weapon by whoever is in charge at the moment.”

“But America — our institutions had been strong enough to prevent that,” Cruz said. “Historically, the Justice Department and the FBI have been strong enough to resist it, but under Biden they now have tough supporters who have buried themselves in senior career positions who are willing to abuse law enforcement. .”

Cruz, who recently published her new book “Justice Corrupted: How the Left Weaponized Our Legal System,” told Fox News Digital that the appointment of a special counsel “is an abuse of our justice system.”

But Cruz said “unfortunately, elections have consequences,” saying the Senate, without a majority, will not have subpoena power or the ability to hold certain hearings with senior Justice Department officials without the support of the Democrats.

“I could tell you 100% that we would have hearings with the Attorney General, with the head of the FBI, examining and exposing the deep and pervasive politicization and corruption in our justice system,” Cruz explained.

United States Attorney General Merrick Garland delivers remarks at the United States Department of Justice Building November 18, 2022 in Washington, DC. Garland announced he will appoint a special counsel to oversee the Justice Department’s investigation of former President Donald Trump and its handling of classified documents and actions prior to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building. . Garland’s choice to oversee the special advocate is Jack Smith, an International Criminal Court prosecutor.
(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“But under Joe Biden and the Democrats, unfortunately, the Democrats have retained a majority in the Senate, and the odds that Senate Democrats even want to consider that is 0.0%,” Cruz said. “We’ll see what we’ve seen over the past two years — which is a persistent cover-up by Senate Democrats of the Biden administration’s abuse of power.”

AG GARLAND APPOINTS SPECIAL ADVISOR TO INVESTIGATE TRUMP ON DOCUMENTS MAR-A-LAGO, JAN. 6

But Cruz said “the good news” is that Republicans control the House of Representatives.

“I’m confident the House will conduct these investigations,” Cruz said, noting that he’s working “closely with the House.”

Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, who is expected to chair the panel in the next Congress when Republicans take a majority, is already seeking voluntary testimony from Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Moreover. more than a dozen other officials and employees as the committee steps up its investigations into alleged politicization at the Justice Department.

Jordan, R-Ohio, just hours before Garland was to appoint the special counsel to investigate Trump, wrote a letter to Garland and Wray warning that if officials ignore requests for voluntary compliance, the GOP committee which will soon be directed “may be forced to resort to the mandatory process to obtain the material that we need.”

Cruz told Fox News Digital that while Senate Republicans “can’t issue a subpoena, can’t call a hearing” and “can’t use the Senate’s use of force, they will do this.” they can to hold officials accountable”.

“In the Senate, we have yet to shine a light and explain to people how our fundamental protections are being undermined,” Cruz said.

PENCE CALLS APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL ADVISOR TO INVESTIGATE TRUMP ‘VERY PROBLEM’

Meanwhile, Trump told Fox News on Friday after the Justice Department announced he “would not participate” in the investigation, and called it “the worst politicization of justice in our country.” while urging the Republican Party to act.

“I’ve been through this for six years — I’ve been through this for six years, and I’m not going through it again,” Trump told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview Friday. “And I hope Republicans have the courage to fight this.”

FILE – In this Dec. 12, 2020, file photo, President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington before boarding Marine One. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

“I’ve been cleared for six years on everything – from bogus dismissals to [former special counsel Robert] Mueller, who found no collusion, and now I have to do more?” Trump said. “That’s not okay. It’s so unfair. It’s so political.”

Trump’s presidency has been clouded by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether he and his campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.

After nearly two years, Mueller’s investigation, which ended in March 2019, has found no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election.

POMPEO SAYS TRUMP’S SPECIAL ADVOCAT IS WAITING, CALLS ON DOJ TO PROVIDE ‘APOLITIC JUSTICE’

“I’m not going to be in it,” Trump told Fox News Digital. “I’m not going to participate in this.”

Trump, who announced his 2024 presidential campaign on Tuesday, said it was “not even believable.”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing. They haven’t found anything. I announce, then they appoint a special prosecutor,” he said. “They didn’t find anything, and now they’re taking a guy who hates Trump. It’s a shame and it’s only happening because I’m leading in every poll in both parties.”

As for Special Counsel Smith, he said Friday that he intends to “conduct the assigned investigations, and any prosecutions that may result, independently and in the best traditions of the Department of Justice.”

“The pace of investigations will not stop or falter under my watch,” Smith said. “I will exercise independent judgment and move the investigations forward quickly and thoroughly, whatever outcome the facts and the law dictate.”