GOP rushes to defend Trump after impeachment for second time

Top Republican lawmakers and even some presidential candidates have been quick to defend the former president. donald trump after he went allegedly indicted by the Department of Justice for his mishandling of classified documents related to the nation’s top national security secrets.

The indictment is still sealed, but Trump announced the news on your social media website social truth, pleading not guilty and divulging that he will appear in federal court in Miami next week. News reports said that there are multiple counts against him, ranging from the deliberate withholding of national defense information to conspiracy.

The Justice Department has yet to unseal the charges and present the evidence against Trump, but that didn’t stop Trump’s top allies on Capitol Hill from claiming, without evidence, that the president Joe Biden he had ordered the independent special prosecutor overseeing the matter to bring charges against the former president, who is also seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

“Today is certainly a dark day for the United States of America,” said House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tweeted. “It is inconceivable that a president would prosecute the main candidate who opposes him. Joe Biden kept classified documents for decades. I, and all Americans who believe in the rule of law, support President Trump.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the House’s number two Republican, aggregate: “Let’s be clear about what is happening: Joe Biden is arming his Department of Justice against his own political rival. This false accusation is the continuation of the endless political persecution of Donald Trump.”

But while top House Republicans were quick to offer sweeping defenses of Trump, the Republican leadership in the Senate was silent. Neither Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) nor Minority Whip John Thune (RS.D.) had yet to weigh in.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who sought to undo Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election without evidence of widespread fraud, tweeted: “If the people in power can imprison their political opponents at will, we don’t have a republic.”

The Justice Department began its investigation into Trump’s trove of classified material in early 2022. Prosecutors requested and received a search warrant for Trump’s luxurious private Florida club, Mar-a-Lago, where he has a residence. The search was conducted on August 8 and led to the discovery of 103 classified documents on Trump’s desk and in storage boxes interspersed with his personal documents.

Trump has claimed that he had every right to take any documents he wanted when he left the White House in January 2021, despite federal law saying otherwise, and that simply taking them allowed him to keep them in his Florida. home.

Trump’s rivals for the GOP presidential nomination also criticized the Justice Department’s indictment of the man standing in the way of his ambitions, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his main rival:

Meanwhile, Vivek Ramaswamy, a tech entrepreneur and long-shot 2024 candidate, has vowed to pardon Trump if convicted.

“It would be a lot easier for me to win this election if Trump wasn’t in the race, but I stand for principle over politics. I pledge to pardon Trump immediately on January 20, 2025 and restore the rule of law to our country.” Ramaswamy saying in a sentence.

Sen. Tim Scott (RS.C.) said in a brief interview on Fox News that he would “pray for our nation and continue to pray for justice to prevail,” without indicating in which direction that justice leaned. However, he echoed other Republicans in lamenting the “weaponization” of the Justice Department.

Only former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, another long shot candidate, called on his rival Trump to withdraw from the race.

“This is a sad day for our country,” Hutchinson said in a statement. “While Donald Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence, the ongoing criminal proceedings will be a major distraction. This reaffirms the need for Trump to honor office and end his campaign.”

Trump was also indicted in April in New York City on charges of falsifying records related to a payment of $130,000 in hush money to a porn star. The former president also faces two other criminal investigations.