Some top Republican senators are downplaying the federal indictment of former President Donald Trump.
Sen. Joni Ernst said she has not read the indictment, but “if that is all true, it is bad.”
Though she quickly pivoted, adding, “I will also remind you that Hillary Clinton had 33,000 emails on an illegal server out of her home. Joe Biden had materials stored in four different locations.”
Ernst later told reporters, “I think across the board, we’ve seen many instances of classified documents getting out into areas where they shouldn’t be, but it seems there’s two systems of justice here, one for President Trump and one for everybody else.”
Sen. Steve Daines would not address the merits of the case. He also attacked the Department of Justice.
Sen. Thom Tillis called on the Justice Department to remove oversight by a political appointee.
“The best thing we can do is move this out of any decision that involves a political appointee… between the attacks on the FBI, the attacks on the DOJ, I don’t think about political appointees, but I think about the 10s of 1000s of people and organizations that are doing a good job every day and should be treated with respect,” Tillis said.
Sen. Mike Crapo also criticized the DOJ, saying this is a “weaponization” of the Department of Justice and an “unequal application of the law.”
When asked about the national security implications, he responded, “No comment.”
Sen. John Cornyn said, “It’s not good,” but did not answer follow-up questions.
Sen. Roger Wicker would not answer questions on the indictment, saying, “I’m late for this meeting.”
Sen. Cynthia Lummis said that the fact a former president has been indicted is “of concern,” but later added, “I think it’s pretty inappropriate. So I hope they were very judicious about making their decision.”
Source: www.cnn.com