Aug. 1 (UPI) — Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were quick to respond to Tuesday’s news that former President Donald Trump had been indicted for a third time. Reaction was mostly split along party lines.
Democrats supported the four federal charges, alleging Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election and played a role in the Jan. 6 insurrection. Republicans blasted the indictment as partisan justice.
“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,” Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“House Republicans will continue to uncover the truth behind Biden Inc. and the two-tiered system of justice,” McCarthy added, referring to recent investigations into the business dealings of President Joe Biden‘s son, Hunter.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued a joint statement Tuesday, calling the indictment a “culmination” of events following the capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
“The third indictment of Mr. Trump illustrates in shocking detail that the violence of that day was the culmination of a months-long criminal plot led by the former president to defy democracy and overturn the will of the American people,” Schumer and Jeffries said.
“This indictment is the most serious and most consequential thus far and will stand as a stark reminder to generations of Americans that no one, including a president of the United States, is above the law.”
Other Democrats expressed their support for the charges, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who called for the indictment to play out “through the legal process, peacefully and without any outside interference.”
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, who was the impeachment manager during Trump’s second impeachment trial, wrote on X that the indictment sends a warning.
“I’m glad to see that Donald Trump has been indicted for his role in trying to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election and for stoking the failed coup of Jan. 6, 2021,” Castro said. “If he gets away with it, others will try the same in the years ahead. The world is watching.”
While President Joe Biden — who is running for re-election in 2024 –has not commented on the indictment, Trump’s campaign blasted the charges as election interference in a post on Truth Social.
“This is 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, in which President Trump is the undisputed frontrunner, and leading by substantial margins,” Trump’s campaign wrote in a statement.
Even Trump’s Republican challenger, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, called the charges partisan, as other challengers — including Nicki Haley and Chris Christie — have yet to comment.
“One of the reasons our country is in decline is the politicization of the rule of law,” DeSantis, who is running second behind Trump, wrote on X. “No more excuses — I will end the weaponization of the federal government.”
But former Vice President Mike Pence, who is also running for the Republican nomination in 2024, disagreed in a post on X.
“Today’s indictment serves as an important reminder,” Pence said. “Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States.”