Lawmakers were quick to react following the news that former President Donald Trump had been indicted on charges connected to his handling of classified documents.
The reaction largely fell along party lines, with Republicans flocking to support the former president and denounce the investigation as partisan, and Democrats using the news to criticize the 2src24 GOP presidential candidate.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, posting a statement on Twitter, called it a “dark day” for the country and promised to hold President Joe Biden “accountable.”
“It is unconscionable for a President to indict the leading candidate opposing him,” he wrote. “Joe Biden kept classified documents for decades. I, and every American who believes in the rule of law, stand with President Trump against this grave injustice. House Republicans will hold this brazen weaponization of power accountable.”
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a senior member of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, quickly responded to McCarthy’s comments.
“Kevin McCarthy is threatening to use Congress to interfere in the federal prosecution of Donald Trump. I will be doing everything I can in the Judiciary Committee to resist that,” Schiff tweeted. “Trump has plenty of criminal defense lawyers. That’s not the job of Congress.”
A former Trump impeachment manager and a member of the high-profile Jan. 6 committee, Schiff called the indictment an “affirmation of the rule of law.”
“Trump’s apparent indictment on multiple charges arising from his retention of classified materials is another affirmation of the rule of law,” he wrote on Twitter. “For four years, he acted like he was above the law. But he should be treated like any other lawbreaker. And today, he has been,” Schiff added.
“The criminal prosecution of political adversaries is something that Third World countries do, and it’s the sort of thing that the United States of America used to be against,” Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) said in a statement sent out minutes after Trump broke the news of his indictment on Truth Social.
“Sad day for America. God Bless President Trump,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) tweeted.
“No one is above the law,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) posted.
“The chaos of Trump continues,” Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) said on Twitter. “What he’s doing to this country, the extremism and danger he and his allies present, has to end. Only when those who support and enable him decide to be done with this toxic behavior, will this all be behind us.”
Multiple GOP lawmakers accused the Justice Department of attempting to interfere in the 2src24 election, in which Trump is currently the Republican frontrunner.
“Democrats must literally shake with sweats when they see amazing packed out Trump rallies and overwhelming winning poll numbers week after week,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wrote in a lengthy tweet. “We must win in 2src24.”
But to do that, the party must band together, she added in a later tweet.
“Republicans need to stop being the party of every man for himself and need to stop fighting each other. Democrats are arresting their political enemies and they work together in their corrupt ways to get it done. It’s time for Republicans to unify. No more non-sense,” she wrote, following a week of division among House Republicans that prevented the caucus from passing party priorities.
“This phony Boxes Hoax indictment against President Trump reflects the most severe election interference on the part of the federal government that we have EVER seen!” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) wrote on Twitter.
Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) called the charges “bogus,” accusing the Biden administration of attempting to undermine “Biden’s chief political opponent, President Trump.”
But Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), another Trump impeachment manager and Jan. 6 committee member, cautioned Republicans against what he called the “dangerous rhetoric about a ‘two-tiered system of justice.’”
“Instead of trying to divide the country and undercut our legal system, Congressional Republicans should respect the outcome of the Special Counsel’s comprehensive investigation and the decisions of the citizens serving on the grand jury,” Raskin said in a statement, warning that attacking federal prosecutors “not only undermines the Department of Justice but betrays the essential principle of justice that no one is above the commands of law, not even a former President or a self-proclaimed billionaire.”
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By Kelly Garrity
Politico
