In the hours leading up to and throughout Donald Trump’s court appearance on Thursday in Washington, DC, some Republican lawmakers criticized the unprecedented third indictment of the former president. Other key Republicans haven’t commented yet.
While Trump appeared in the courtroom, Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York and one of his most ardent supporters on Capitol Hill, issued a statement denouncing the charge. “The American people are smart, and they know this is a politically charged witch hunt orchestrated by Joe Biden’s corrupt DOJ,” she said.
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Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican from Florida, tweeted a graphic on Thursday from Fox News comparing the dates of the Hunter Biden investigation with the dates that Trump has been charged in numerous cases, along with the caption, “Every time we learn more about potential Biden family corruption, @JoeBiden’s DOJ indicts his top political opponent.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican, wrote earlier Thursday on Twitter, “The DOJ: the DNC’s legal arm? Indictments as political tools? This isn’t impartiality; it’s partisanship.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee, accused the judge assigned to the case to be impartial. “The judge presiding over Trump’s newest case — an Obama-appointed jurist — has previously ruled against the former president. Do you think she’ll judge in a fair and impartial manner?” she said in a tweet ahead of Trump’s appearance.
Former President Donald Trump entered a not-guilty plea to all counts against him at his arraignment in a federal court in Washington, DC, on Thursday. The case relates to alleged attempts to alter the result of the 2020 election.
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Trump was charged on Tuesday with four counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of, and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights, as a result of an investigation conducted by the Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith.
