The House Judiciary Committee produced fireworks Wednesday while marking up a bill to protect presidents from lawfare by the federal government.
The bill from Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC) would insulate presidents from vengeful, politically motivated federal prosecutors and judges by allowing former presidents and vice presidents to remove federal cases to state courts if they choose.
“This is about fundamental fairness in our legal system. In both the Georgia case and in New York, you had prosecutors that were elected and campaigned on going after Donald Trump,” Fry told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview after the committee markup. “They made it their mission, once they were elected, to find a crime, any crime, and go after the former president.”
Democrat lawmakers continue to insist no lawfare took place against Trump. Despite Bragg’s own words, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) used the hearing to challenge Republicans to produce evidence his home-state Manhattan prosecutor admitted to targeting the then-former president.
“If you have a quote of his, please, I urge you to bring it to me,” Goldman told the committee. “Never happened. False.”
At Goldman’s urging, the Judiciary Committee did just that.
Committee Republicans produced a video with clips recorded during Bragg’s campaign in which he touted multiple times his intent and qualifications to go after Trump.
In one instance, when asked if whoever won the job would convict Trump, Bragg said, “That is the number one issue. I am the candidate in the race who has the experience with Donald Trump. We sued the Trump administration over 100 times.”
Fry’s bill, which was referred out of the committee on a 14 to 11 party line vote, would protect presidents and vice presidents from prosecutors like Bragg and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
“The model that Alvin Bragg created and Fani Willis created is not something that we should do in this country, not something that we should duplicate in this country, but they have set that standard, and this bill is necessary to clean it up and preserve fundamental fairness in our judicial system,” Fry told Breitbart News.
He added that in today’s politically charged atmosphere, former presidents and vice presidents are far less likely to receive fair trials.
“You’re not George Washington, where you go to Mount Vernon and you truly retire,” he said of today’s environment. “Current law allows officers of the United States ambassadors to remove their state cases to federal court, and this would change existing law to include those former presidents and vice presidents.”
Democrats’ unruly, mob-like behavior during Trump’s joint address from Congress drives home Fry’s belief that a president needs protection today.
“If you have these politicians as prosecutors, as judges, you’re not going to get a fair shake right now, right?” he asked.
Fry’s legislation would “bolster the jury selection process” as well, he said. “The jury selection process in the federal system is usually much more robust than that in the state court, and it allows a party to remove that case for a better system, so that you’re not so reliant on elected prosecutors and elected judges picking bad juries and jurisdictions that hate you to target you.”
The South Carolina congressman did not speak to the Trump administration about the bill to lessen the appearance of overt political motivation for the bill.
“I’ve intentionally tried to keep that separate,” he said. “The easiest example is what happened to [Trump], but this could be anybody, anybody who wants to make a name for themselves and raise money and win elections.”
Fry appreciated the support of House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and hopes that leadership will bring the bill to the floor. He believes the bill could even earn bipartisan support.
“Chairman Jordan is a big fan of the bill, and we are incredibly happy to have his support and leadership in advancing this legislation,” he said.
Read the full article here
