Following his latest round of federal indictments, former President Donald Trump’s is facing calls for him to step away from his latest presidential run, while at least one longtime opponent forecasted that the indictment may pull voters away from Trump’s sway.
Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday was indicted on four criminal counts related to the federal investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol: three related to conspiracy, and a fourth related to obstructing Congress’s duty to tally Electoral College votes.
Despite facing about 80 felony charges in the last several months, Trump continues to seek the highest office in the country. Some of Trump's fellow contenders for the GOP nomination defended him, while others took a harsher tone, with some even calling for him to drop out of the race entirely.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who featured throughout Tuesday's indictment and was a key witness in the Justice Department's probe, shared some harsh words for his former boss, while saying that Trump was entitled to the presumption of innocence.
“Today's indictment serves as an important reminder: anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States,” Pence, who is also seeking a White House bid, posted on social media Tuesday. “Our country is more important than one man. Our constitution is more important than any one man’s career. On January 6th, Former President Trump demanded that I choose between him and the Constitution. I chose the Constitution and I always will.”
Pence’s statement was a clear break from most GOP responses, which generally either circled the wagons around the leading contender for the nomination, or deflected disgust toward the ongoing federal charges against Hunter Biden.
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Trump critic, once again emphasized that the former president should suspend his third White House bid: "Step away from the campaign for the good of the country."
"This is another sad day for America with a former President being charged criminally for obstructing the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next. January 6 is a day that calls for accountability for those responsible," Hutchinson said. "I have always said that Donald Trump is morally responsible for the attack on our democracy. Now, our system of Justice will determine whether he is criminally responsible."
But other GOP hopefuls, like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, decried so-called weaponization of the Justice Department.
"This is un-American & I commit to pardoning Trump for this indictment," Ramaswamy said. "Donald Trump isn't responsible for what happened on Jan 6."
"As President, I will end the weaponization of government, replace the FBI Director, and ensure a single standard of justice for all Americans," DeSantis said. "While I've seen reports, I have not read the indictment. I do, though, believe we need to enact reforms so that Americans have the right to remove cases from Washington, DC to their home districts."
"I remain concerned about the weaponization of Biden’s DOJ and its immense power used against political opponents,” South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott said in a statement. “What we see today are two different tracks of justice. One for political opponents and another for the son of the current president."
The Speaker of the House of Representatives took a similar approach to his response.
“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,” said House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who chose the latter approach. “House Republicans will continue to uncover the truth about Biden Inc. and the two-tiered system of justice.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., has been among those leading the charge against Trump, including as a member of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot.
”The indictment lays out how he knew that his lies about the election were lies, a conspiracy to deprive people of their vote, a conspiracy to obstruct the official proceeding on January 6, and then the actual obstruction of that event,” Schiff told Spectrum News Tuesday.
“And you know, these charges, they're the most serious to date — they go right to the heart of the matter, because they go right to the heart of the effort to interfere with a peaceful transfer of power, the most serious crime against our democracy in our history,” Schiff added.
“I do think there is a vital center that is going to be moved by the former president’s deep unfitness for office — unfitness that was once again brought home in this 45 page indictment,” he said.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska., a longtime Trump critic and one of the few Republicans to support his impeachment, said that new evidence “has only reinforced that the former President played a key role in instigating the riots, resulting in physical violence and desecration of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021,” encouraging Americans to “read the indictment, to undertand the very serious allegations being made in this case.”
Democratic leaders, meanwhile, maintained pressure — while continuing to insist that the legal process must play out.
“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,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a joint statement, adding that the indictment “is the most serious and most consequential thus far.”
Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., praised the investigative work leading up to the indictment in her statement.
“Through the meticulous and patriotic work of the bipartisan Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack, evidence was uncovered about the sinister plot to overturn the presidential election and prevent the peaceful transfer of power, which culminated in deadly insurrection,” Pelosi said. “As this case proceeds through the courts, justice must be done according to the facts and the law.”