Just minutes after a federal grand jury indicted Donald Trump on a slew of charges related to his actions during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, top House Republicans jumped to the former president's defense to decry the allegations as a political distraction ahead of a crucial election cycle.
House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik released a statement shortly after the charges were unsealed on Tuesday evening, accusing the Department of Justice of being weaponized against Trump in order to boost President Joe Biden's reelection.
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"President Trump had every right under the First Amendment to correctly raise concerns about election integrity in 2020," Stefanik said in a statement. "Despite the DOJ’s illegal attempt to interfere in the 2024 election on behalf of Joe Biden, President Trump continues to skyrocket in the polls and will defeat Joe Biden and be sworn in as President of the United States in January 2025."
Stefanik criticized the timing of the indictment, which came just one day after Congress heard testimony from a longtime business associate of Hunter Biden, whom lawmakers have been investigating over the last several months over allegations of international peddling schemes. The Republican leader accused the DOJ of using the indictment to distract from Devon Archer's testimony, which Stefanik says is evidence of "one of the greatest political corruption scandals in history."
"Congress heard testimony from Hunter Biden’s longtime business partner that Joe Biden joined Hunter’s business calls over 20 times," she said. "This directly contradicts Biden’s lie that he never discussed business with his son. Today’s sham indictment of Donald Trump is yet another desperate attempt to distract attention away from the mounting evidence of Joe Biden’s direct involvement in his family's illegal influence peddling scheme."
Other Republicans were quick to chime in, echoing similar sentiments — arguing the charges were merely being used to distract from President Biden's own troubles.
“It’s no surprise at all that following Devon Archer’s damning testimony yesterday, the DOJ drops more charges against President Trump," said Rep. Mike Johnson, vice chairman of the House GOP conference. "Their efforts at distraction can never change the real problem: President Biden is in serious trouble.”
Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) was also among the first Republicans to react to the news of indictment, claiming Trump "did nothing wrong!"
"When you drain The Swamp, The Swamp fights back," he said in a statement.
Trump was indicted by a grand jury on four separate federal charges: one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States; one count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; one count of obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and one count of conspiracy against rights.
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Trump has long maintained innocence in all investigations related to the Jan. 6 riot, accusing the Biden administration of unfairly targeting him because of his frontrunner status in the GOP presidential primary. The former president released a statement shortly before his indictment was unsealed, denouncing the charges as "prosecutorial misconduct."
"Why didn't the do this 2.5 years ago? Why did they wait so long?" he wrote in a Truth Social post. "Because they wanted to put it right in the middle of my campaign."