House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and several MAGA Republicans endorsed Donald Trump on Saturday ahead of the former president’s potential indictment by a Manhattan grand jury.
Trump, in posts on his Truth Social social media platform, predicted he would be arrested Tuesday and called on supporters to protest, citing «illegal leaks.» Hours later, a Trump spokesperson clarified in a statement that the post was shared without any notification of impeachment beyond press reports from NBC News and other media outlets.
“Here we go again: an outrageous abuse of power by a radical district attorney letting violent criminals walk while seeking political revenge against President Trump,” McCarthy wrote in a statement. cheep.
“I am directing the relevant committees to immediately investigate whether federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions,” McCarthy added.
Despite his recent strong comments criticizing Trump over Jan. 6, former Vice President Mike Pence, who is about to make a decision on a 2024 presidential bid, said the potential impeachment “reeks of the kind of political prosecution we’ve been through.” in the days of joke Russia.»
«This is what the Manhattan district attorney says is his top priority?» Pence said Saturday on SiriusXM radio.
Congressional Republicans closely aligned with Trump, a 2024 presidential candidate, have expressed outrage and denounced the potentially impending impeachment.
Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the third-ranking Republican in the House, called Trump’s possible arrest «un-American» and said Democrats have reached «a dangerous new low.»
«Knowing they cannot beat President Trump at the polls, the radical left will now follow the lead of the socialist dictators and will reportedly arrest President Trump,» he said in a statement. statement he shared on Twitter, calling him the leading Republican candidate.
Speaking at the Conservative National Vision ’24 Forum on Saturday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, RS.C., downplayed the Manhattan district attorney’s case, saying he thinks prosecutors are «scared» of Trump.
“The New York attorney has done more to help Donald Trump get elected president than anyone in the United States today,” Graham said.
He added: “If I were President Trump, I would take this all the way to the fucking Supreme Court.”
Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona tweeted, “If they can come for Trump, they will come for you. This kind of thing only happens in authoritarian third world nations.”
“Virtually all campaign finance violations involve 1) spending other people’s money illegally or 2) taking money on your campaign that you shouldn’t. Trump did neither.» tweeted Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida. «He used his own money to settle a private dispute, independent of any campaign.»
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia characterized the allegations against Trump as «false» and «outdated.» She tweeted: «Republicans in Congress MUST subpoena these communists and STOP this!»
she wrote in another cheep that «we don’t need to protest,» adding: «These idiots are sealing their own fate in 2024 because the silent majority has two feelings right now about the current regime.» God bless President Trump. Real America knows that this is all a farce.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., wrote«God bless President Trump. The real America knows this is all a sham.»
Senator JD Vance of Ohio, another Trump ally who has put forward his unsubstantiated theories of a stolen 2020 election, criticized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, saying he will «prosecute» Trump while «violent criminals» roam New York City.
While the timing is currently unclear, the former president could soon face possible charges in the state related to a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
NBC News reported Friday that local, state and federal law enforcement agencies are preparing for the potential indictment as soon as next week.
Former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen is a key witness in the case. He testified before the grand jury this week after he pleaded guilty in 2018 to making an illegal payment to Daniels on Trump’s orders for the «primary purpose» of influencing the 2016 election.
Trump said he returned Cohan the $130,000 but insisted what he did was legal. The former president has denied wrongdoing.
A spokesman for Bragg’s office declined to comment on Trump’s posts on Truth Social.