(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) The condemnation of former President Donald Trump’s indictment Thursday by the Biden Justice Department was swift and fierce from leading conservative commentators, legal scholars and political pundits, but drew what was roasted as a disgraceful response from a RINO herd running for the GOP presidential nomination.
Bridgegate-disgraced former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie refused to condemn the political targeting of a former president. The former Trump acolyte instead stumped for the weaponized DOJ’s indictment, and excused President Joe Biden’s egregious mishandling of documents, while disingenuously claiming he’d withhold judgement until he saw the Trump indictment.
“The problem with all of this is that it’s self-inflicted,” Christie told Fox News regarding Trump’s indictment.
“In the end, I don’t know that the government even knew that Joe Biden had those documents or not,” Christie said. “They did know Donald Trump did and in fact asked for them voluntarily for them for over a year and a quarter and got them back in dribs and drabs.”
Biden has come under heavy fire for stashing trunk loads of documents from his tenure as vice president, surfacing in unsecured locations and offices with deep ties to China operatives. None of which seemed to bother Christie.
“But if in fact, you’re keeping those things knowingly, even after the government has asked for you to bring them back, the excuses about, ‘oh, they were classified, declassified automatically when I left the office,’ well, that’s just wrong,” he said of Trump.
I’m old enough to remember when Chris Christie was investigated for corruption and he claimed it was weaponization. 2012 come get ya boy please.
— Daniel F. Monroe (@USArmyOfficer) June 8, 2023
“Christie just lost any respect he might have had in the GOP,” said one commentator, while another noted that the turncoat “Chis Christy was the first republican candidate to endorse Trump in 2016.”
Human Events senior editor Jack Posobiec advised Republicans to “Pay very close attention to ‘conservatives’ who are silent about the willful destruction of our entire system because they think it benefits their personal ambitions. Stand and be counted.”
Multiple Republican campaigns are silent tonight because they view the Trump indictment as a positive for them
In fact, they've been telling donors this was the plan all along
And why so many names just entered the race. It is coordinated
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) June 9, 2023
The criticism was equally harsh for Asa Hutchinson, former governor of Arkansas, who many were surprised to learn was running for president. The Bush-era DEA chief and homeland security undersecretary was slammed for using the politically weaponized attack on Trump as a fundraising opportunity, while calling for Trump, who is leading the 2024 presidential pack by a wide margin, to withdraw from the campaign.
“While Donald Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence, the ongoing criminal proceedings will be a major distraction,” Hutchinson said. “This reaffirms the need for Donald Trump to respect the office and end his campaign.”
It’s a sad day for your campaign @AsaHutchinson. You will be the first to drop out of the race. Nope, not true. You will be tied for first place with Chris Christie on being the first to drop out of the @gop race. @BernardKerik @TeamTrump
— Vernon Jones (@VernonForGA) June 9, 2023
Other GOP presidential contenders either took a neutral stand on Trump while condemning the Biden DOJ, or offered strong support for the party frontrunner, with businessman Vivek Ramaswamy saying he would grant Trump a pardon if events unfolded in that direction.
“It would be much easier for me to win this election if Trump weren’t in the race, but I stand for principles over politics,” he said.
Calling the Trump indictment “an affront to every citizen,” Ramaswamy warned that American “cannot devolve into a banana republic where the party in power uses police force to arrest its political opponents.”
“I never thought we’d see the day when the U.S. President deputizes the DOJ to arrest his lead rival in the middle of an election,” Ramaswamy said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who in most polls trails a distant second to Trump, also ripped the Biden DOJ, declaring that “the weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society.”
The weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society.
We have for years witnessed an uneven application of the law depending upon political affiliation.
Why so zealous in pursuing Trump yet so passive about Hillary or Hunter?
The DeSantis…
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) June 9, 2023
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., whose recent schooling of the leftists at The View saw his profile and popularity rise, strongly denounced the Trump indictment.
“What we’ve seen over the last several years is the weaponization of the Department [of] Justice against a former president,” Scott told Fox News on Thursday.
“Today, what we see is a justice system where the scales are weighted. That seems to be the outcome of where we are today,” Scott said.
“You don’t have to be a Republican to see injustice and want to fix it. You don’t have to be a Democrat to see injustice and want to fix it,” he said. “You just have to be an American and stand up for the right thing.”
