(Headline USA) Former national security adviser John Bolton, a longstanding foe of former President Donald Trump, admitted this week that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump is an “overreach” and “weak.”
Bolton noted that he is someone “who very strongly does not want Donald Trump to get the Republican presidential nomination,” but told CNN that he is “extraordinarily distressed” by Bragg’s unsealed indictment.
“I think this is even weaker than I feared it would be,” he said, “and I think it’s easily subject to being dismissed or a quick acquittal for Trump.”
Trump pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records — charges that stem from a hush-money payment Trump’s former campaign manager Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Bolton said that there “is no basis in the statutory language to say that Trump’s behavior forms either a contribution or an expenditure under federal law.”
“If you can construe the statute to cover this behavior, then I think it violates the First Amendment,” he added.
Bolton isn’t the only Trump-hater to rail against Bragg’s case. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, also issued a statement condemning the charges.
“I believe President Trump’s character and conduct make him unfit for office. Even so, I believe the New York prosecutor has stretched to reach felony criminal charges in order to fit a political agenda,” Romney said.
“No one is above the law, not even former presidents, but everyone is entitled to equal treatment under the law. The prosecutor’s overreach sets a dangerous precedent for criminalizing political opponents and damages the public’s faith in our justice system,” Romney continued.
Republicans have rallied around Trump in the wake of the indictment, with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., vowing on Tuesday to use his congressional powers to scrutinize Bragg’s abuse of office.
“Alvin Bragg is attempting to interfere in our democratic process by invoking federal law to bring politicized charges against President Trump, admittedly using federal funds, while at the same time arguing that the peoples’ representatives in Congress lack jurisdiction to investigate this farce,” McCarthy tweeted.
