Republican presidential hopefuls and lawmakers have responded to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s latest indictment of former President Donald Trump which charges him in connection with his efforts to dispute the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Mr. Trump is indicted on conspiracies against the United States and the Congressional certification of the electoral vote on Jan. 6, 2021, as well as against Americans’ right to vote. The indictment also alleges Mr. Trump attempted to obstruct and obstructed that electoral vote certification.
One of the most outraged reactions came from biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who has marketed himself as the exponent of a Trump-like “America First 2.0” platform.
“The corrupt federal police just won’t stop until they’ve achieved their mission: eliminate Trump. This is un-American & I commit to pardoning Trump for this indictment,” said Mr. Ramaswamy in a statement to The Epoch Times.
He reiterated his talking points on Jan. 6, saying the unrest that day was traceable to pervasive censorship of Americans in the weeks, months, and years preceding it.
“If we fail to admit the truth, Jan 6 will just be a preview of far worse to come & I don’t want to see us get there,” he said.
In a post on Twitter, now known as X, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, long perceived as Mr. Trump’s chief 2024 rival, stressed his opposition to “the weaponization of government” without fully condemning the latest charges faced by the former president.
“While I’ve seen reports, I have not read the indictment. I do, though, believe we need to enact reforms so that Americans have the right to remove cases from Washington, DC to their home districts,” he said.
“Washington, DC is a ‘swamp’ and it is unfair to have to stand trial before a jury that is reflective of the swamp mentality,” he added.
Sen. Tim Scott, like Mr. DeSantis, didn’t pledge to pardon Trump.
“I remain concerned about the weaponization of Biden’s DOJ and its immense power used against political opponents,” he said.
“What we see today are two different tracks of justice. One for political opponents and another for the son of the current president. We’re watching Biden’s DOJ continue to hunt Republicans, while protecting Democrats.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to other 2024 contenders, including former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
In a statement that the former president posted on his social media site, Truth Social, the Trump campaign dismissed the indictment as “nothing more than the latest corrupt chapter in the continued pathetic attempt by the Biden crime family and their weaponized Department of Justice to interfere with the 2024 presidential election.”
“These un-American witch hunts will fail and President Trump will be re-elected to the White House,” the campaign said.
A spokesperson for quality control expert and 2024 Republican hopeful Perry Johnson said Mr. Johnson “has made his position on the DOJ’s [Department of Justice’s] weaponization of the law clear by being the first candidate to publicly say he would pardon Trump back in March.”
“His stance remains that the DOJ, under Joe Biden, is a corrupt organization that needs massive overhauling, which he will do as president,” the spokesperson added.
GOP Lawmakers Threaten Defunding of Smith
Other top lawmakers in Congress also responded to the Aug. 1 indictment, which marks Mr. Smith’s second set of federal charges aimed at Mr. Trump.
The first charges, issued in June, concern the former commander-in-chief’s retention of classified documents from his presidency.
Republicans, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), have generally maintained that the indictment is meant to distract from developments in the investigation of the Biden family’s business dealings and alleged influence peddling.
“Everyone in America could see what was going to come next: DOJ’s attempt to distract from the news and attack the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, President Trump. House Republicans will continue to uncover the truth about Biden Inc. and the two-tiered system of justice,” Mr. McCarthy wrote on Twitter.
“Today’s sham indictment of Donald Trump is yet another [desperate] attempt to distract attention away from the mounting evidence of Joe Biden’s direct involvement in his family’s illegal influence peddling scheme–one of the greatest political corruption scandals in history,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who chairs the House Republican Conference.
“President Trump had every right under the First Amendment to correctly raise concerns about election integrity in 2020,” she continued, adding that she predicts a Trump victory in the 2024 presidential race.
Meanwhile, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who led the first Trump impeachment trial, wrote on Twitter that the charges “will put our democracy to a new test: Can the rule of law be enforced against a former president and current candidate?”
“For the sake of our democracy, that answer must be yes,” he added.
Some Republicans called to defund Mr. Smith, part of a trend among some GOPers seeking to stymie the prosecutor.
“I will use the Holman Rule to defund Jack Smith’s special counsel, as these baseless investigations and persecutions must be put to an end,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on Twitter.
The Holman rule, which Republicans restored when they reclaimed the House this year, permits lawmakers to slash salaries for officers of the United States to $1.
“The corrupt (Democrat Party’s corrupt) federal police just won’t stop until they’ve achieved their mission: eliminate Trump. ”
I watched some of those impeachments. What I got out of them was an opening speech full of lies for the politicized main stream media to air to the public. Some of those videos of Trump’s speech were doctored. Good example was the Jan 6 speech where Donald Trump said go peacefully and let your voices be heard. The media edited out go peacefully. I found the original video on c-span but c-span edited it out in the transcript. So much dishonesty, corruption and outright Lies orchestrate and fabricated by this Democrat Party!
ITS not just the politicians that are lying, its the MEDIA, willfully covering for them.
If there was an entry for Scummy Lowlife Ambulance Chasing Punk in the encyclopedia Jack Smith’s Picture would accompany the entry. Jack Smith is the most unethical evil persecutor I have ever seen in the legal profession. His prosecutions have drawn criticism from ethical judges for decades. If the American Bar association were not an arm of the Democrat Crime Organization he would have been disbarred long ago. When the House returns from it’s August break and starts marking up the 2024 Federal Budget McCarthy, Comer and Jordan should get together and push the Republican Majority to vote for no funding for the D.O.J., the BATFE, the F.B.I. and the Biden Administration. And do not give them continuing resolutions. The Democrat Crime Organization has gone full bore tyrant and is a Domestic Threat Group to the Republic.
Problem is Mt Trump did this before. Years ago, in a contest for businessman of the year, Trump entered, and officials discovered he tried to do something fancy(rig it some kind of way), and they eliminated him. But one of his statements about contest were, ” never give up, never give in, say they cheated, anything to win. Mr. Trump been around a long time doing some of the same things. I wish him well but hope he comes up with a new strategy. Some of this stuff there’re not going to let go. Take a plea with probation, and one non-negotiable point. He can run for public off. Even if he rallies the troops (hard core Trump followers) to storm wherever, not enough citizens will show up. Take the plea, run for office. Hopefully no more Jan 6th incidents. You were here and you know what happened. Keep in mind we ( everyone of us) are American citizens, and we want to work this out.