Matt Gaetz Calls for Defunding FBI, CDC, ATF, DOJ

Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican from Florida, called for the defunding of many U.S. government agency such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Department of Justice.

This came on top of an earlier call for defunding the FBI.

Gaetz addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference and called for accountability. Gaetz claimed to have been part of a small group of twenty or more Republicans that won concessions from Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. in his fight for the House speakership. One of those was the creation of the Select Subcommittee of the Weaponization Federal Government.

“Seems like every time I turn around, they’re engaged in surveillance or list-building or monitoring. And I don’t care if it takes every second of our time and every ounce of our energy. We either get this government back on our side or we defund and get rid of… abolish the FBI, CDC, ATF, DOJ, every last one of them, if they do not come to heel,” Gaetz was given a standing ovation.

“And I don’t think it’s too much to ask. I really don’t.”

Calls to Defund the CDC exemplify the harsh criticism the agency is facing for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. colluded As it relates to school closings, American Federation of Teachers (second-largest teacher’s union) is in agreement with them.

In June 2021, Gaetz called For the FBI to be defunded.

“If Democrats want to defund the police, they should start with the FBI,” Gaetz posted the above in a Tweet that he promptly deleted.

Gaetz repeated his appeal to defund FBI following raids on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Florida estate, Aug. 8, 2022. Gaetz stated that “the antidote” To the FBI going after Trump “not one more damn penny for this administrative state that has been weaponized against our people in a very fascist way.”

Gaetz, who was accused of sex-trafficking, was being investigated by the DOJ at the time of the 2021 and 22 remarks. Gaetz’s lawyers claimed they were told by the DOJ last month that the Congressman would not face charges.

CPAC was established March 2nd and will end March 4.

Gaetz was not the only one to address the crowd. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and other conservative and GOP figures also addressed it.

Republican presidential candidates Nikki Haley (ex-ambassador to the United Nations, Governor of South Carolina) and Vivek Rajaswamy (multimillionaire entrepreneur), were set to speak at CPAC March 3.

Trump will speak March 4.

CPAC has returned to Washington, DC for the first time in 2020. It was there just before the COVID-19 pandemic.