Bill Text: MI HR0347 | 2021-2022 | 101st Legislature | Introduced


Bill Title: A resolution to urge Congress to investigate the Federal Bureau of Investigation for political corruption and significantly decrease the Bureau's budget, and to urge the Bureau and the United States Department of Justice to release the full and unredacted search warrant and supporting affidavit for the August 8, 2022, search of President Donald Trump's home.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 4-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-09-28 - Referred To Committee On Judiciary [HR0347 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2021-HR0347-Introduced.html

 

 

house resolution no.347

Reps. Carra and Maddock offered the following resolution:

A resolution to urge Congress to investigate the Federal Bureau of Investigation for political corruption and significantly decrease the Bureau's budget, and to urge the Bureau and the United States Department of Justice to release the full and unredacted search warrant and supporting affidavit for the August 8, 2022, search of President Donald Trump's home.

Whereas, The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) plays a pivotal role in protecting this nation from both domestic and international threats, including some of the most dangerous threats to democracy: corruption, political suppression, and defiance of the rule of law. To carry out its goal to "[c]ombat public corruption at all levels," the FBI must not merely enforce the law, but actively ensure it is enforcing the law evenhandedly, to guard against becoming the very criminals they seek to destroy; and

Whereas, Throughout its history, the FBI has repeatedly strayed from its mission and its mandate from Congress, becoming a tool of political influence against individuals of all political persuasions, including those in power and average citizens. In the 1920s, FBI agents were used to spy on members of Congress who opposed the President's policies and actions in the Teapot Dome scandal. J. Edgar Hoover, who served as the Director of the FBI for 48 years, performed political favors for both Republican and Democratic administrations, such as pursuing Communists during the McCarthy era, disrupting anti-Vietnam War organizations, collecting blackmail on Martin Luther King, Jr., and attempting to discredit the civil rights movement; and

Whereas, Congress has the power and the will to defend constitutional rights against the abuse of power by the FBI, as demonstrated by its vigorous oversight and investigation of the FBI in response to instances of corruption. The most famous of these investigations, the Church Committee, led to the establishment of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the creation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), and internal reforms of federal agencies; and

Whereas, The FBI has gone to extraordinary lengths and utilized unlawful means to oppose Republicans seeking office in recent years. In 2017, the FBI included information from the Steele dossier, an unverified collection of hearsay and lies, in an affidavit before the FISC. Based on this affidavit, the FISC granted a wiretap to investigate alleged collusion between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the Russian government. Years later, these allegations were disproved, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) declared that these FISA warrants were legally invalid, and the FISC harshly criticized the FBI for submitting unsupported and contradicted information and withholding information detrimental to their case; and

Whereas, The FBI has also targeted individual Americans who disagree with Democratic politicians. In 2020, an undercover FBI informant engaged in entrapment by convincing a small group to conspire to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The undercover FBI agent was second in command of the group plotting the kidnapping, took time off of work to meet with them, suggested they use an encrypted messaging app, and contacted the group nearly every day. Entrapment, the practice of convincing or tricking people into committing crimes they would not otherwise commit, is forbidden to prevent overzealous criminal investigations, like the FBI's investigation in this case; and

Whereas, The FBI's inaction in cases against Democrats reveals its political bias. The FBI has failed to adequately investigate Hunter Biden's business dealings with Chinese and Ukrainian entities accused of bribery and his plans to hold equity in a Chinese company for his father, President Joe Biden. The FBI has ignored the clear possibility that President Biden has been unduly influenced or corrupted by his son's activities, instead focusing on Hunter Biden's possible tax and firearms violations; and

Whereas, The FBI's double standard has been highlighted by its unequal enforcement of laws about handling classified documents. While she was Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton improperly and illegally used a personal email server for work-related emails, including emails classified as top secret. Rather than seizing the email servers, investigators gave the Secretary time to voluntarily give her email servers to the United States DOJ, despite stalling for months. Secretary Clinton's lawyers then deleted 33,000 emails and "cleaned their devices in such a way as to preclude complete forensic recovery." Despite characterizing Secretary Clinton as "extremely careless in [her] handling of very sensitive, highly classified information," the FBI declined to recommend criminal charges against her. In contrast, when President Donald Trump improperly and illegally retained documents that should have been given to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), including documents classified as top secret, the FBI acquired a search warrant and seized documents from the President's home, even though President Trump had complied with NARA's previous requests for documents; and

Whereas, Congress has two powerful tools under the United States Constitution to combat corruption in the executive branch: the power of oversight and the power of the purse. When those with certain beliefs are above the law and those with other beliefs are singled out for harsher treatment or illegally punished for their thoughts, democracy cannot long endure. Congress has a moral and constitutional duty to act to preserve the American people's First Amendment rights to think for themselves, speak for themselves, and associate with whom they will, especially the rights of those with whom they disagree; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we urge Congress to investigate the Federal Bureau of Investigation for political corruption and significantly decrease the Bureau's budget following their unprecedented raid of a President's home on August 8, 2022; and be it further

Resolved, That we urge the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Department of Justice to release the full and unredacted search warrant and supporting affidavit for the August 8 search of President Donald Trump's home; and be it further

Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, the members of the Michigan congressional delegation, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Attorney General of the United States.

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