HUNTSVILLE — Former U.S. Attorney Jay Town said calls by GOP lawmakers to defund or abolish the FBI are “just dumb.”
Town, a former prosecutor in the Madison County District Attorney’s Office, made the comment Wednesday on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program.” He said Republicans should not push the message of defunding the FBI if they want to win in November.
U.S. Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), among others, said to scrap the nation’s chief investigative and security agency in the wake of the FBI’s search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
Boebert tweeted Monday, “The GOP majority must defund all forms of tyranny throughout Biden’s government” while Greene posted, “DEFUND THE FBI!”
“‘Defund the FBI’ is the absolute wrong thing we should be saying right now,” Town, a former senior prosecutor in the Madison County District Attorney’s Office, said. “We should be saying, ‘Support the FBI and let’s have a more wholesome look at who’s conducting investigations, who’s doing what and why, and as long as they’re properly predicated we should be fine.’ Otherwise, yes, we have to answer some more questions.
“But defund the FBI, all that’s doing is stalling whatever momentum we have on this red wave going into November, and we just can’t allow that to happen.”
Town said he does not want to see anything get in the way of Republicans possibly taking control of Congress next year.
“The Republican Party and conservatives everywhere have an opportunity this November to take back the House of Representatives and the United States Senate,” he said. “Which is incredibly important from everything to just simple policy, to appropriations, to the way that our government is going to function over the next two years and hopefully carry that momentum into a Republican White House in 2024, whoever that candidate might be.”
Town said the nation needs to look past partisan politics when it comes to law enforcement.
“[I]t’s a horrible idea,” he said. “Forget about the politics, it’s just dumb. I hate to put it so bluntly, but that’s just what it is. And this is coming from a guy who spent over two decades in law enforcement really at the highest levels.”
He also said the FBI plays an important role in keeping the American people safe.
“I can tell you the FBI is keeping us safe right now, and if you didn’t have the FBI we would be less safe,” said Town. “Derek Chauvin’s in prison, good, but cops are keeping us safe right now, you don’t defund the police. We need them. I need (Madison County) Sheriff [Kevin] Turner, I need the [Huntsville Police Department], I need the FBI.
“They’re keeping my family safe right now in ways you’ll never know because they don’t walk out and celebrate it; it’s just done.”
According to Town, elected officials must be held to a higher standard.
“We need statesmen and stateswomen in Congress doing the Lord’s work,” he added. “We don’t need slogans and clickbait.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
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