Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz. opening day of the 118th Congress || Bio data/U. S. House
By Ryan Randazzo || The Arizona Republic
Rep. Andy Biggs announced Thursday that he has introduced legislation that would punish the Manhattan District Attorney for prosecuting former President Donald Trump over his business records.
The “No Federal Funds for Political Prosecutions Act” would prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies from using funds to investigate or prosecute the president, vice president or a presidential candidate in a criminal case, Biggs, R-Ariz., said.
It also would prevent using or property seized through asset forfeiture for such purposes.
Any agency the U.S. attorney general found to violate the law would lose some funding because they would be disqualified from receiving proceeds from property seized by the attorney general, or the seized property.
A New York grand jury voted in March to indict Trump, the first time a former president has been charged criminally, after investigating hush-money payments to two women who claimed to have had sex with him.
Trump surrendered to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office April 4 and pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business documents to conceal the payments.
Biggs and other Trump supporters have suggested that prosecution is aimed at hurting Trump’s chances of reelection in 2024, as he is a leading Republican presidential candidate.
The charges normally would be misdemeanors had the business records not been falsified to conceal campaign expenditure violations, according to the case.
Biggs says charges politically motivated.
