Republicans, including those affiliated with former President Donald Trump and others challenging him for the GOP nomination, voiced a variety of reactions to the details in his unsealed indictment.
During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, the former Attorney General said the government was not conducting a “witch hunt” in charging the former president.
“If even half of it is true, then he is toast. It’s a very detailed indictment and it’s very, very damning. This idea of presenting Trump as the victim here, victim of a witch hunt, is ridiculous,” he said. “He is not a victim here. He was totally wrong that he had the right to have those documents. Those documents are among the most sensitive secrets that the country has.”
A former military lawyer, the Sunshine State’s governor called the charges politically motivated, defending his political rival without naming him.
“I think there needs to be one standard of justice in this country,” he told a crowd in North Carolina, before referencing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s alleged use of a private server to store classified information. “Is there a different standard for a Democrat Secretary of State versus a former Republican president?”
Appearing at the same North Carolina venue as his former boss this weekend, Pence criticized the “politicization” of the Justice Department.
“The very nature of a grand jury is that there is no defense presented,” Pence said. “That’s why I said today I’m going to urge patience, encourage people to be prayerful for the former president, but also for all those in authority and for the country going forward.”
The former federal prosecutor, two-term Arkansas governor and now-candidate for president, told CNN on Sunday that Trump should get out of the race.
“We need someone who has a high regard for military secrets, for classified documents, and for the rule of law,” he said, speaking from New Hampshire. “We know Donald Trump is not going to drop out of the race, this is going to be an issue that the voters have to decide. My point is that this is bad for our country, bad for the presidency, and it is a legitimate campaign issue.”
The Granite State’s governor, fresh off his declaration he would not seek the White House in 2024, told CBS that he doesn’t think the charges against Trump are politically motivated, though he stressed it will be hard to explain that to the average voter.
“If half of what they say they can prove is provable, then he’s got a real problem on his hands and it’s self-inflicted… He had every chance in the world to hand all those files and documents back, he did just the opposite and he bragged about keeping them,” he said.