Donald Trump released a new video on Wednesday that appeared to detail his marching orders for House Republicans’ new select subcommittee on the ‘weaponization’ of the federal government.
He once again re-upped calls to investigate former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump 2016 campaign probe – even though its origins are already being examined by Special Counsel John Durham.
And Trump also urged the new Congressional panel to look into January 6 conspiracy theories as well as the social media suppression of stories – such as Hunter Biden‘s laptop ahead of the 2020 election – over FBI warnings of foreign disinformation attempts.
Trump called for ‘a full report on any domestic surveillance of MAGA supporters that has taken place under Biden or Obama and the radical left.’
Former President Donald Trump posted a brief video on his Truth Social platform outlining a series of questions he wants the new Republican-led subcommittee investigating government ‘weaponization’ to ask
The powerful new subcommittee is being led by Ohio GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee under which the panel sits.
Its stated purpose is to probe investigations within the Department of Justice.
‘The New House Committee on the weaponization of the federal government is a rare chance to expose the breathtaking corruption of the security state, the media and the Washington swamp,’ Trump said in a video posted to his Truth Social platform.
‘Here are just a few of the questions the committee hopefully will be asking.’
He called on the committee to investigate ‘the Mueller witch hunt,’ referring to the former special counsel probe into whether his 2016 campaign colluded with the Russian government.
‘Who in the Mueller team was in charge of leaking secret information and fake news stories to dishonest journalists, of which are many, to perpetrate the Russia hoax?’ Trump went on.
Among his wishlist for committee probes is a line of inquiry into Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian collusion with the Trump 2016 campaign
‘It was all a horrible thing that was given to the people of our country illegally by a fake press and a corrupt press and by corrupt politicians.’
He also suggested the panel look into reports from September 2020 that FBI agents who were examining his 2016 campaign under Operation Crossfire Hurricane bought liability insurance, claiming they did it ‘because they knew it was fake.’
‘And they knew that sometime there’d be a guy like Trump that wants to go after them,’ the former president said.
Trump then told the Republican-led panel to go after Twitter for its meetings with the FBI regarding foreign misinformation attempts, which he claimed was ‘to interfere in domestic politics in the final weeks of multiple US election seasons, and specifically and most importantly, in the presidential election of 2020.’
‘What the FBI did was suppress anything bad about Biden, and go all out, put it all out there, if there was anything at all bad about Trump. And if there wasn’t anything bad, we’ll make it up. What that was is a rigged election just by itself,’ he said.
He also floated the idea of the committee investigating the conspiracy theory of whether federal officers had any part in stirring the January 6 riot
He then invoked conspiracy theories that originated on far-right corners of the internet that government agents had something to do with the January 6 attack on the US Capitol in 2021.
‘What was the role of federal agents and informants, and pressing the crowd toward the Capitol on January 6?’ Trump said.
‘And who is Ray Epps? tell me about Ray Epps. Where does he come from? I think we know.’
Epps, a Trump supporter who traveled to the Capitol that day as crowds descended on Washington DC to protest Joe Biden’s electoral victory, has been accused of being a federal plant by figures on the right.
Jordan, who chairs the committee Trump was directing his video at, is a staunch ally of the former president’s.
He was put under scrutiny himself by the Democrat-led January 6 committee, which subpoenaed him over his communications with Trump leading up to and on the day of the Capitol attack. That committee has since been dissolved after Republicans took the House majority.
Trump wrapped his video with a message directly to Jordan and Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer, the two House Republicans spearheading investigative efforts into the Biden administration.
‘This committee is a vital chance to bring it all to light, begin to heal our divisions and save our beloved country. I want to thank you for listening but it’s a big problem. We have to do something for. I also want to pay my respect to James Comer, and Jim Jordan for the incredible job they’re doing, for the work they’re doing and for the love they have for our country. Thank you both.