What Republicans have said about a possible Trump indictment
Former president Donald Trump says he expects be arrested on charges stemming from alleged hush-money payments to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels about an affair she says they had years earlier. Trump, who has denied the affair, is calling on his supporters to protest what he says is his imminent arrest. Alvin Bragg (D), the Manhattan district attorney, has not confirmed any plans to arrest Trump, but Republican leaders have criticized the case.
Some quickly defended Trump. Others - like Nikki Haley, who served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) - have stayed quiet.
Here is what Republicans have said about a possible indictment of Trump.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
“Look, I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair,” he said at a news conference on Monday. “I can’t speak to that.”
“But what I can speak to is that if you have a prosecutor who is ignoring crimes happening every single day in his jurisdiction and he chooses to go back many years ago to try to use something about porn star hushmoney payments, that’s an example of pursuing a political agenda.”
He went on to say, “We are not involved in this, won’t be involved in this. I have no interest in getting involved in some type of manufactured circus by some Soros D.A.,” referring to one of the Manhattan district attorney’s campaign supporters, George Soros. Soros is a frequent target of baseless right-wing accusations rooted in antisemitism.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.)
“I don’t think people should protest this, no.” McCarthy said Sunday. He added: “And I think President Trump, if you talk to him, he doesn’t believe that, either.”
McCarthy also criticized the case against Trump, saying to reporters, “We need equal justice in America,” and “Do you believe this is equal justice? Are you proud of what the Manhattan D.A. is doing?”
Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.)
“This is unAmerican and the radical Left has reached a dangerous new low of Third World countries,” she said in a statement, the Daily Gazette reported. “Knowing they cannot beat President Trump at the ballot box, the Radical Left will now follow the lead of Socialist dictators and reportedly arrest President Trump, the leading Republican candidate for President of the United States.”
“I think it just tells you everything you need to know about the radical left in this country. It just feels like a politically charged prosecution here,” Pence said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”
Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio)
Bragg “got pressured, I think from the left,” Jordan told Fox News on Monday. He went on to say, “Now they’re coming after him for some alleged bookkeeping error. You’ve got to be kidding me.” The House Judiciary Committee, which Jordan chairs, is demanding Bragg testify in Congress about this probe, plus provide a trove of documents about it.