Washington, June 8 Several Republican figures, including the leader of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, criticized on Thursday the accusation presented by a court in Florida against former President Donald Trump (2017-2021).
Shortly after the former president himself reported that charges were filed against him for the alleged mishandling of classified documents, McCarthy rejected the legal action.
“Both I and all Americans who believe in the rule of law stand with President Trump in the face of this grave injustice,” said the Republican leader of Congress.
McCarthy also indicated that members of his party in the Chamber will hold the government “accountable” for what he described as a “blatant instrumentalization of justice.”
The governor of Florida and Trump’s rival in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, Ron DeSantis, also expressed his support for the former president.
“We have witnessed for years how justice is applied unequally, depending on political affiliation,” the politician wrote on his Twitter account.
Among congressional Republicans, several of the strongest voices in favor of the former president were quick to reject the accusation.
House Judiciary Committee members Jim Jordan and Andy Biggs defended Trump.
Jordan, who represents the state of Ohio, wrote on his Twitter account that today was a “sad day” for the US, while Biggs went further and called for the FBI to be “dismantled.”
For her part, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of Trump’s most ardent supporters, called the Department of Justice and the FBI “corrupt.”
On his Twitter account, Greene said it is a “shame” that President Joe Biden has not been charged for also having classified documents in his possession. “It’s shameful, pathetic actually, the biggest hypocrisy in modern history,” he wrote.
Biden is also under investigation for possession of classified documents.
The president’s case was uncovered in January and the papers found date back to the time when he was vice president of Barack Obama (2009-2017) and when he was a senator (1973-2009).
The different classified documents were found by their own lawyers and turned over to the authorities, unlike what happened in August at Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago (Florida), where the intervention of the Department of Justice was necessary to recover the papers.
Trump is being charged before a court in Miami for seven federal crimes, including illegal withholding of government secrets, obstruction of justice and conspiracy, according to major national media reports.
The president noted on his social networks that he has been summoned to appear in the Federal Court of Miami next Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. local time (7:00 p.m. GMT).
The court document, however, has not yet been officially released and the Justice Department declined to comment on the case.
In a video posted on Truth Social, Trump directly criticized the Justice Department, calling it “innocent.”
This is the second time that Trump has faced criminal charges and is also the first president in the history of the country to be charged.
In April this year, the Republican was charged by a New York court with 34 counts in connection with payments made to porn actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.
This Thursday’s indictment is part of the investigation, led by special counsel Jack Smith, into Trump’s handling of hundreds of classified documents that were found by the FBI at his mansion in Florida. EFE
aaca/enb
:quality(85)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/U627YVZFNBDTRGF2KZ2MZS3B7M.jpg)
:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/HE676WOWBVAWLEJRPYWOS3V4KE.jpg)
:quality(85)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/GTUTEQO4INFQHEVULU5CWAP37A.PNG)
