Despite the fact that the massive protest expected by law enforcement over the indictment of former President Donald Trump for bribery of porn actress Stormy Daniels did not take place on the streets, a large number of Republican Party officials, including the governor of Florida Ron DeSantis, widely seen as his main rival in the presidential primaries, and prominent conservative television figures rallied in favor of the ultra politician, the first US president to be criminally charged. The conservative caucus warned that the US population “will not tolerate” what they consider to be a “witch hunt.”
“The American people will not tolerate this injustice, and the House of Representatives will hold (Prosecutor) Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said. For the conservative legislator, the prosecutor “has irreparably damaged the country in an attempt to interfere in the presidential election.”
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally and involved in another of the former president’s legal cases – the attempt to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia – also criticized the accusation. Graham, who had a telephone conversation with Trump after the news broke, assured in an interview collected by The Washington Post that the former president told him that “they are using the law as a weapon”, something with which the senator was of agreement.
However, he distanced himself from the idea of ​​calling protests for the accusation, something that the former president himself did a little over a week ago when he advanced that he expected to be arrested.
Governor DeSantis was quick to convict the prosecutor who brought the Manhattan case, and while he avoided naming Trump, he said Florida would not facilitate his extradition. The former president was at his residence in Mar-a-Lago, in this state, when the grand jury notified the resolution. Later it was learned that Trump plans to turn himself in on Tuesday. “The use of the judicial system as a weapon to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law upside down,” DeSantis said on Twitter.
Also likely candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election and former US President Mike Pence called the accusation “political persecution.”
The chair of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel, agreed that this is a politically motivated decision. “When our justice system is used as a political tool it puts us all in danger. This is a flagrant abuse of power by a district attorney focused on political vendetta instead of keeping people safe,” he said. On twitter.
For the conservative legislator Jim Jordan, president of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives, what happened is simply “scandalous”, as he published on that same social network.
The president of the conservative political action conference CPAC, Matt Schlapp, called the New York prosecutor’s decision an “abuse of power.” “The persecution and new impeachment of President Trump is an outrageous violation of constitutional norms and a continuation of insane political persecution,” Schlapp wrote in a statement. Florida Sen. Rick Scott called the accusation “political vendetta against President Trump.”
The one who has not commented on the news at the moment is the leader of the conservatives in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, the main figure in opposition to Trump within the Republican Party and a frequent object of criticism of the former president.
Conservative media figures have jumped to the defense of Donald Trump with doomsday language, saying they believe he is being unfairly persecuted while predicting his 2024 White House bid would be given a boost by his perceived martyrdom. “This is totally unacceptable and an embarrassment to this country,” Fox News host Jesse Watters was outraged. “This is repulsive,” added Sean Hannity, from the same network, three days after interviewing Trump on his show. “This is a disgusting political coup like we’ve never seen in this country before. It’s crazy,” denounced Eric Bolling from Newsmax.
The guests of both chains seemed to compete last night for who was more enraged. Senator Lindsey Graham used an inaudible obscenity to address the charges. “The Democratic Party has now dragged the country into tyranny!” shouted commentator Mark Levin.
Newsmax sent reporter Mike Carter in front of the Trump Plaza building, who called it “a pretty normal Thursday night,” except for reporters hanging around and “some people who are excited about what happened tonight.” In the area around Mar-a-Lago, Florida, where Trump was last night, there were some rallies.
On the Democratic side, the former speaker of the House of Representatives before McCarthy, Nancy Pelosi, assured on Twitter that she hopes that “the former president will respect the system peacefully”, and recalled that “no one is above the law”. Senate President Chuck Schumer was more cautious than his fellow Republicans, calling for political interference or intimidation in the case to be avoided. Schumer said the former Republican president is subject “to the same laws as any American,” according to a statement from his office.
Trump was indicted Thursday by a grand jury for paying to silence porn actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign.
