Former President Donald Trump will reportedly be indicted on federal charges next week at a courthouse in Miami.
The charges stem from the handling of alleged classified documents recovered during an FBI raid of the former President’s home last year.
According to reporting on the continued harassment of President Biden’s top political opponent, there are seven counts in the indictment that has yet to be released:
Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on seven counts in the special counsel’s classified documents probe, a stunning development that marks the first time a former president has faced federal charges.
Trump is facing a charge under the Espionage Act, his attorney Jim Trusty said on CNN Thursday, as well as charges of obstruction of justice, destruction or falsification of records, conspiracy and false statements.
The special counsel has been investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents that were brought to his Mar-a-Lago Florida resort after he left the White House in 2021, as well as possible obstruction of the investigation and government efforts to retrieve the material.
The former president wrote on Truth Social that he had been informed by the Justice Department he was indicted and that he was “summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM.”
Trump’s response, declaring the case a witch hunt and calling the charges erroneous, would be expected.
What’s worth watching, however, is how other candidates in the race react to the charges and how they frame their responses.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeted the following:
The weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society.
We have for years witnessed an uneven application of the law depending upon political affiliation.
Why so zealous in pursuing Trump yet so passive about Hillary or Hunter?
The DeSantis administration will bring accountability to the DOJ, excise political bias and end weaponization once and for all.
Notably absent from DeSantis’ statement is a defense of Trump but a promise to “bring accountability” under a future “Desantis administration.” In other words, DeSantis isn’t too bothered by the development as it will only bolster his chances in the primary should the charges start to drag down Trump’s candidacy.
Vivek Ramaswamy, a candidate who has closely aligned himself with Trump’s policies, gave perhaps the most full-throated defense of the former President:
We can’t have two tiers of justice: one for Trump, another for Biden. One for Assange, another for Manning. One for BLM/Antifa, another for peaceful protesters on Jan 6.
I never thought we’d see the day when the U.S. President deputizes the DOJ to arrest his lead rival in the middle of an election. Obama shamefully tried to deputize the FBI to infiltrate Trump’s 2016 campaign, but they’re leaving nothing to chance this time around: the federal police state is outright arresting Trump.
This is an affront to every citizen: we cannot devolve into a banana republic where the party in power uses police force to arrest its political opponents. It’s hypocritical for the DOJ to selectively prosecute Trump but not Biden.
There are also serious legal questions about the President’s power to declassify documents and the potential illegality of the over-classification of federal documents in the first place. That’s for the courts to decide, but *we the people* decide who governs this nation.
It would be much easier for me to win this election if Trump weren’t in the race, but I stand for principles over politics. I commit to pardon Trump promptly on January 20, 2025 and to restore the rule of law in our country.
As DeSantis has an angle, so does Ramaswamy, but at least he was able to separate principle from politics and point out how egregious and unprecedented it is for the sitting administration to attack and harass the front-runner of the opposition party.
Unsurprisingly, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson responded to the news by calling on Trump to drop out of the race, a position he has maintained since announcing his candidacy:
“While Donald Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence, the ongoing criminal proceedings will be a major distraction,” Hutchinson said. “This reaffirms the need for Donald Trump to respect the office and end his campaign.”
So, according to Hutchinson, Trump might be innocent and he should be given the presumption. On the other hand, he should drop out of the race. Hutchinson’s logic doesn’t make much sense.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie gave some kind of non-response reaction:
We don’t get our news from Trump’s Truth Social account. Let’s see what the facts are when any possible indictment is released. As I have said before, no one is above the law, no matter how much they wish they were. We will have more to say when the facts are revealed.
Christie is as irrelevant in this race as his response was void of substance.
If history serves as a guide, Trump’s polling will see a bump as many Republicans view the ongoing attacks on the former president as stemming from purely political motivation.
We should know more next week when Trump appears in a Miami federal courtroom to hear the charges.
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