WASHINGTON – Republicans are rallying around Donald Trump in the wake of his unprecedented conviction in New York, claiming the US justice system is being “weaponized” for political purposes to specifically take down the former president, who is running for another term in the Oval Office.
“The prosecution of President Trump was not about justice. It was about arming the Democratic-controlled Justice Department to attack their political opponent,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said during a press conference on Tuesday.
However, Trump is not the only high-profile figure to find himself in legal trouble during an election year. Longtime Democratic Senator Bob Menendez (NJ), who recently switched parties; Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar (Texas); And President Joe Biden‘s son, Hunter; are also facing federal charges, with both Menendez and Biden going on trial this week.
When HuffPost pointed this out to Trump-supporting Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week, they doubled down on their “weaponization” claims and said there was reason to cast grave doubt on the justice system.
“It seems like the DOJ has been guilty of political motives from time to time – I think every level, not just the Justice Department – but every level of justice seems to have a little bit more political play than in the US. past,” Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told HuffPost.
“You have to take a skeptical look at everything now,” he added.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), another member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the DOJ has “gone from sticking its big toe in the water to jumping into the deep end.”
“It seems like the courts are involved in every election that takes place, and I don’t think that’s a good development,” he continued, saying that the DOJ might have waited to file some charges until after the election in November.
Many of the Republican Party’s attacks on the New York case against Trump have focused on the credibility of Judge Juan Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, accusing both of being biased against Trump. They have even suggested that Biden was behind the whole thing by somehow ordering Bragg to indict Trump for falsifying corporate records to cover up hush money payments to an adult film star, even though presidents have no control over prosecutors on state level.
Attorney General Merrick Garland roundly rejected the allegation at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, calling it a “conspiracy theory” and “an attack on the judicial process itself.”
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) also noted during the hearing that the Justice Department chose Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) not to be prosecuted on sex trafficking charges.
“He is living proof of the fact and direct proof that you did not weaponize the Department of Justice. He was under investigation for sex trafficking and while many expected prosecution, you chose not to prosecute,” Cohen told Garland, the hearing witness.
However, that hasn’t stopped Republicans from insisting that the Justice Department is solely focused on prosecuting Trump.
Asked about Hunter Biden going on trial this week, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters he didn’t think one case disproved their theory that Trump is being prosecuted. He also complained that the DOJ chose not to charge Biden for his handling of classified documents.
“We have rogue prosecutors across the country who have dragged President Trump through this trial because of who he is. “Everyone knows that if it hadn’t been him, the charges in Manhattan would never have been filed,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, defended the younger Biden against allegations that he illegally purchased and owned a gun in 2018 while abusing or addicted to drugs, a misdemeanor of federal law. law.
“I don’t think the average American would have been charged with gun charges,” Graham told HuffPost. “I don’t see anything good coming out of that.”
Hunter Biden admitted that he habitually used crack cocaine at the time. He, too, has argued that he was unfairly targeted by the Justice Department and has pleaded not guilty.
Democrats rejected the Republican Party’s efforts to dismiss Trump’s historic conviction in New York, a first for a former president expected to be formally chosen for the Republican presidential nomination next month.
“All of these cases show that no one is above the law and that prosecutors make decisions based on the facts and statutes,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). “The justice system works.”
The Justice Department also filed separate charges against Trump for hoarding classified documents after his presidency and attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss. But these things likely won’t happen until after the November 2024 election.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), an outspoken Trump critic, said he “didn’t see the kind of weaponization that might be suggested” in the way the Justice Department prosecutes cases. Still, he condemned the New York case against the former president, calling it “not an appropriate first step.”
Most Republicans still support Trump despite the fact that he is now a convicted felon, and many are encouraged by the fact that it helped his presidential campaign raise more than $50 million in just one day, helping a whopping $140 million haul in May.
But not every Republican is satisfied. Asked if she could believe her party would rally around a convicted felon, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), another Trump critic, said, “I never thought we would do that.”
Arthur Delaney and Jonathan Nicholson contributed reporting.
