House Speaker Kevin McCarthy promised Thursday evening to hold Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accountable for his role in indicting former President Donald Trump.
“Alvin Bragg has irreparably damaged our country in an attempt to interfere in our Presidential election,” McCarthy, R-Calif., said in a statement Thursday. “As he routinely frees violent criminals to terrorize the public, he weaponized our sacred system of justice against President Donald Trump.”
“The American people will not tolerate this injustice, and the House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account,” the House speaker promised.
The charges against Trump revolve around supposed hush-money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election. Bragg, a Democrat, led the investigation and his office filed the charges Thursday under seal.
Trump is expected to be asked to surrender to authorities in the coming days. The details of the charges remained unknown Thursday night.
“This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history,” the former president said in a written statement Thursday evening slamming the indictment. “From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States, the Radical Left Democrats – the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country – have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement.”
A slew of Republican lawmakers similarly reacted to the news on Thursday, expressing outrage and condemning the move as political persecution.
“Tonight’s indictment of Donald Trump isn’t about the law,” warned Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. “It’s about power. Raw power. It’s the Democrat Party telling the nation they will stop at nothing to control the outcome of the next presidential election. It is an assault on our democracy, pure and simple.”
“Impeach [President Joe] Biden,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. “He’s given us every reason and the family banking records and more are giving us receipts. But now that the gloves are off. Prosecute any and all crimes. Enough of this witch hunt bulls—.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, emphasized that the “Democrat Party’s hatred for Donald Trump knows no bounds.”
“The ‘substance’ of this political persecution is utter garbage,” Cruz said. “This is completely unprecedented and is a catastrophic escalation in the weaponization of the justice system.”
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., slammed the news as “an attack on every American.” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, called it “outrageous.”
“President Donald Trump always fought for us,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. “He puts the American people above corrupt interests. For that reason alone, the powerful will never stop coming for him. A majority of Americans know Alvin Bragg’s witch hunt is a politically motivated prosecution. I continue to stand with President Trump as he has always stood with us.”
Trump also emphasized that this has never before happened in U.S. history.
“The Democrats have cheated countless times over the decades, including spying on my [2016] campaign, but weaponizing our justice system to punish a political opponent, who just so happens to be a President of the United States and by far the leading Republican candidate for President, has never happened before,” Trump wrote. “Ever.”
The former president also heavily criticized Bragg, saying he was “hand-picked and funded by George Soros.”
“Rather than stopping the unprecedented crime wave taking over New York City, he’s doing Joe Biden’s dirty work, ignoring the murders and burglaries and assaults he should be focused on,” Trump said. “This is how Bragg spends his time!”
“I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden,” he added. “The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see it. So our Movement, and our Party – united and strong – will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Following news of the indictment, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, called the move “un-American” and announced that he would not assist in extraditing Trump.
“The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head,” DeSantis said. “It is un-American. The Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney has consistently bent the law to downgrade felonies and to excuse criminal misconduct. Yet, now he is stretching the law to target a political opponent.”
“Florida will not assist in an extradition request given the questionable circumstances at issue with this Soros-backed Manhattan prosecutor and his political agenda,” he added.
Virginia Allen contributed to this report.
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