Republican lawmakers and former elected officers have spoken out about former President Donald Trump’s historic indictment, a lot of them dismissing the allegations of misconduct as politically motivated.
Listed below are among the newest feedback from officers and figures within the former president’s occasion:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: DeSantis attacked Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg for indicting “a former president on misdemeanor offenses” for “purely political functions” in a speech Saturday on the Pennsylvania Management Convention.
“That’s when that the legislation has been weaponized for political functions; that’s when that the left is utilizing that to focus on their political opponent,” DeSantis mentioned.
On Thursday, shortly after the information broke that the New York grand jury indicted Trump, DeSantis issued a related assertion on Twitter that criticized Bragg, however didn’t point out the previous president.
The indictment stays below seal so it isn’t publicly identified what prices Trump faces.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin: Youngkin briefly chided Bragg over the grand jury’s indictment.
“That is the prosecutor who informed all people he was going to go do that to be able to get elected,” the Republican governor informed reporters in Virginia.
(Bragg ran as a reformer, and on the marketing campaign path he highlighted his prior work on lawsuits in opposition to the Trump administration.)
Youngkin had come to Trump’s protection on Twitter Thursday night, with out mentioning the previous president by identify. He wrote it’s “past perception” that Bragg “indicted a former President and present presidential candidate for pure political acquire.”
In his remarks Friday, Youngkin pivoted to a name for the US to “put this type of politics down,” and mentioned he’s extra involved with serving to Virginia residents than commenting additional on divisive nationwide narratives.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush: Bush defended Trump, calling the the Manhattan grand jury indictment “very political” and “not a matter of justice” in a tweet Saturday morning.
“Bragg’s predecessor didn’t take up the case. The Justice Division didn’t take up the case,” wrote Bush, one among Trump’s prime 2016 presidential rivals.
“That is very political, not a matter of justice,” he added. “On this case, let the jury be the voters.”
Bush referred to as for a Republican to challenge Trump in his bid for reelection in 2020. Trump lobbed insults at Bush on a number of events throughout the 2016 Republican main earlier than Bush suspended his marketing campaign. The previous governor mentioned he wouldn’t vote for Trump.
Former Lawyer Normal Invoice Barr: Barr, who served as lawyer common below the Trump administration earlier than stepping down over the previous president’s election lies, referred to as the indictment a “political hit job,” arguing that it’s a “weak case.”
“It is the archetypal abuse of the prosecutorial perform,” Barr mentioned on the Nationwide Evaluation Institute summit held in Washington, DC. “It is a shame if it seems what we expect it’s.”
Nonetheless, Barr mentioned he believed it could be politically damaging to the Republican Get together. He referred to as it a “no-lose state of affairs” for Democrats, permitting them to focus the run-up to the 2024 election on Trump, both handing him the nomination or leaving the eventual nominee with one other scandal to take care of.
However “legally, I feel, from what I perceive, it’s a pathetically weak case,” he mentioned.
Learn extra reactions from the GOP here.
