Republican lawmakers slammed Saturday amid reports an indictment against former President Donald Trump could come next week, with representatives and senators decrying what they say is a politically motivated attack on the former president and nominee of 2024.
Fox News was one of several outlets to report this week that the Manhattan District Attorney has requested a meeting with law enforcement ahead of a possible indictment.
According to a court source, the meeting was requested on Thursday and is “to be discussing the logistics for some time next week, which would mean they face an indictment next week.”
The possible charges stem from the lengthy investigation into Trump’s alleged payment of “hush money” to the porn actress Stormy Daniels. Toward the end of the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump’s then-attorney Michael Cohen sent Daniels $130,000 to prevent her from disclosing a 2006 affair with Trump. Trump, who denies the affair, repaid Cohen in installments.
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Ex-President Trump said he would be “arrested on Tuesday”. (AP Photo/Seth Little)
Reached for comment Fridaythe Manhattan Attorney’s Office would not “confirm or comment” on the upcoming indictment.
The office, led by prosecutor Alvin Bragg, has been investigating the hush money payment, which allegedly took place in 2016, for five years.
Trump, who is running for president again in 2024, said on Truth Social Saturday that illegal leaks suggest he will be “arrested Tuesday.”
The apparently impending indictment sparked anger among Republicans, who see a politically motivated indictment. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he has directed House committees to investigate “whether federal funds are being used to undermine our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated law enforcement.”
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“Here we are again – an outrageous abuse of power by a radical prosecutor who is letting violent criminals loose while pursuing political revenge on President Trump,” McCarthy tweeted.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., dismissed the charges as “based on untested, tortured legal theory.”
“This is an absurd abuse of criminal procedure in our politics,” he said. “It has to be seen for the partisan pathetic ploy that it is.”
MP Elise Stefanik, R-NY, called any such move “un-American” and said the “radical left has hit a dangerous new low for third world countries.”
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“Knowing that they cannot beat President Trump at the ballot box, the Radical Left will now follow the example of socialist dictators and reportedly arrest President Trump, the leading Republican nominee for President of the United States,” she said. “This is just a continuation of the shameful and unconstitutional pattern that traces back to the illegal fraud of the Russian collusion to try to silence and suppress the will of voters who support President Trump and the America First Movement.”
THE OFFICE OF MANHATTAN DA “REQUESTED TO MEET” WITH THE LEGAL ENFORCEMENTS BEFORE A POSSIBLE TRUMP INdictment
Other Republican lawmakers took the opportunity to criticize Bragg himself. Rep. Claudia Tenney, RN.Y., said Bragg “allows violent criminals to walk the streets but abuses the rule of law and the powers of his office to target political opponents in partisan witch hunts.” He is unfit for the office.”
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said a potential indictment must be treated as “a politically motivated prosecution based on strained, convoluted legal theory.”
“It highlights the danger of a politicized ‘justice’ system that is (is) going to be armed against ALL Americans,” he said.
In the upper chamber, Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said the potential indictment was “a certain insanity of the third world banana republic and a very, very dangerous path.”
“If the same behavior occurred in an authoritarian state, our own US State Department would condemn it. In liberal New York, it’s obviously politics as always,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, said he was asked if he would rescind an endorsement from Trump if impeached.
“The answer is, Hell no. A politically motivated indictment reinforces the case for Trump. We just don’t have a real country when justice depends on politics,” he said.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., meanwhile, took aim at Democrats in general, claiming it’s part of a trend for the party.
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“The Democrats used the FBI against parents, they used the FBI against Catholics, they used Big Tech against vaccine critics and anyone who questioned them. Now they want to arrest Trump, their leading political opponent,” he said. “They are the Banana Republic Party.”
Source : www.foxnews.com