A GOP congressman whose reporter fiancée was insulted by Donald Trump has vowed to become a major thorn in the president’s side.
Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick on Wednesday pledged to torpedo Trump’s $1.8 billion deal with the DOJ just hours after the president disrespected the congressman’s wife, Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich.
Heinrich had tried to ask Trump earlier in the day whether he’d had a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but the president ignored her and instead went on a long diatribe against Fitzpatrick.
“Well, her husband votes against me all the time. Can you imagine?” Trump said, apparently addressing the other reporters.
The 79-year-old president continued rambling, “I don’t know what’s with him. You better ask what’s with him. Her husband, she’s married to a certain congressman. He likes voting against Trump. You know what happens with that? Doesn’t work out well. I don’t know why he does.”
He then took a question from another reporter asking about Taiwan.
While Trump claimed that Heinrich, 37, and Fitzpatrick, 52, are married, a Fox News spokesperson told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the pair are still engaged. The Daily Beast has reached out to Fox for comment.
Later, Fitzpatrick went on the attack against the $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” for MAGA loyalists created under an arrangement between Trump and the DOJ in exchange for the president dropping his $10 billion lawsuit.
“Bad news, we’re gonna try to kill it,” Fitzpatrick, who represents a purple district in Pennsylvania that Democrats are hoping to flip in the November midterms, told MeidasTouch reporter Scott MacFarlane.
The vast payout fund, which is designed to compensate people who claim they were unfairly targeted by the DOJ under the Biden administration—including Jan. 6 rioters—has sparked outrage, with critics calling it a corrupt giveaway of taxpayer money to the president’s allies.
“We’re going to write a letter to the AG to start, but we’re considering a legislative option,” Fitzpatrick said, adding that they are “trying to unpack exactly what the legal machinations are.”
“Can’t do that,” he declared.
The congressman also recoiled at Trump’s DOJ deal for giving the president and his family sweeping tax amnesty. The settlement declares the IRS is “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED” from “prosecuting or pursuing” all claims and “examinations” of Trump or “affiliated individuals” as well as related trusts and businesses.
Asked if his legislative effort against the deal would take aim at that provision, Fitzpatrick replied, “Of course, yeah, you can’t do that.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
