Former President Donald Trump's indictment in the classified documents matter has garnered splintered reactions from Senate Republicans.
The 45th president was indicted in special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into the mishandling of classified documents after leaving office. Smith said the charges were related to "felony violations of our national security laws as well as participating in a conspiracy to obstruct justice.” A far greater number of Senate Republicans were willing to condemn Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charging the former president in March regarding alleged hush money payments than are willing to touch the Justice Department case.
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has refused to comment on the federal indictment, telling reporters last Tuesday after facing repeated requests to react to the charges, "I’m not going to start commenting on the various candidates we have running for president. There are a lot of them; it’s going to be interesting to watch."
The top GOP senator has similarly refused to comment on the New York charges.
Some on McConnell's leadership team have followed his lead, such as Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Katie Britt (R-AL), a new addition to the group.
Sens. John Thune (R-SD), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), three Trump critics in McConnell's ear, have separately voiced their disapproval over the conduct alleged in the indictment.
"There are very serious allegations in the indictment," Thune, who serves as Senate GOP whip, told reporters last week. "I think the Justice Department, as they attempt to prove their case, they’ve got a high burden of proof to convince people that they’re handling this fairly and as they would for any other elected official."
Asked if he viewed the Justice Department charges as more credible than those brought forth by Bragg, the No. 2 Senate Republican replied, "Oh yeah. That one was clearly, in my view, politically motivated, and the facts were pretty thin, and the law was actually pretty thin in that case."
By contrast, he continued, the special counsel’s indictment was “serious” and “very detailed."
"You’re talking about national security secrets, classified information," he said.
Cornyn, who has said since last year he thinks it is time for the GOP to move past Trump, initially declined requests for comment on the impending charges, telling reporters in the Senate halls that he was waiting to see the indictment for himself.
"Well, it’s not good," the McConnell ally said last Monday after reading the indictment.
Capito, who serves as conference vice chairwoman, said of the indictment on Wednesday, "These are serious charges. And they need to be taken seriously by everybody. And as these things unfold, they tend to get bigger because there’s additive information."
Trump does have a few allies in McConnell's orbit, such as Senate GOP Conference Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY), who initially released a statement in support of Trump after he announced the charges on his Truth Social platform. Despite the initial show of support, Barrasso has largely avoided the topic since the full indictment dropped.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) expressed concern about the special counsel's indictment serving as proof that the Justice Department provides Democratic suspects with preferential treatment to Republicans.
“And whether it’s classified under Hillary Clinton and she destroys it or whether it’s classified and Trump has it, there should be equal treatment of the law,” Grassley said last week. “But you see, one was handled one way and President Trump another way.”
Ernst, his Iowa colleague, concurred, saying, “It seems there’s two systems of justice here: one for President Trump and one for everybody else that has had classified documents.”
Other Republicans backing Trump in the wake of the full indictment dropping include Sens. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
Responding to questions from the Washington Examiner and others on Wednesday about the indictment, Graham declined to defend the conduct specifically. He cautioned, though, that he would look at any additional federal indictments as an effort to guarantee at least one Trump conviction.
“If the special counsel indicts President Trump in Washington, D.C., for anything related to Jan. 6, that will be considered a major outrage by Republicans because you could convict any Republican of anything in Washington, D.C.,” Graham said. “I fear that’s where this is going, as sort of an insurance policy.”
Trump's usual Senate GOP critics, such as Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), have voiced their support for the charges and argued the alleged misconduct makes the former president unfit to command the Oval Office.
“I’m looking at what I’ve seen, and it looks pretty damning to me,” Murkowski told reporters. “I don’t think that it is good for our Republican Party to have a nominee and, in fairness, the front-runner under a series of indictments.”
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Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the only member of the Senate running for president in the 2024 cycle, has called the federal charges a "serious case with serious allegations" while also saying he believed prosecutors were applying a "double standard."
“You can’t protect Democrats while targeting and hunting Republicans,” Scott said last week.