Donald Trump indicted: White House has no comment, defends ‘integrity’ of DOJ
Christian Datoc
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The White House referred all questions regarding the indictment of former President Donald Trump to the Justice Department Friday and defended the “integrity” of the department amid criticism from the former president’s supporters.
A number of Republican lawmakers, including some of Trump’s own presidential primary foes, claimed that the Biden administration was weaponizing the Justice Department to stop Trump from running against Biden in the 2024 election.
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White House principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton faced multiple questions on the topic during a Friday flight to North Carolina but repeatedly declined to offer any comment.
“We’re just not going to comment on this case and would refer you to the DOJ, which runs its criminal investigations independently,” she said in response to the first question on the subject.
“This is a president who respects the rule of law and has said that since day one. That’s precisely why we’re not commenting here. He believes in respecting the independence of the DOJ and protecting the integrity of their processes, and that’s, again, why we’ll leave it there,” Dalton added. “We’re not going to comment on this. I will tell you, though, that and confirm, as we’ve said overnight, that the president and senior staff found out just like everybody else last night. There was no advanced knowledge that this was coming. We found out from news reports, just like everybody else across America.”
Trump is reportedly facing seven charges related to the Espionage Act over his mishandling of classified documents after leaving office.
The former president announced on Truth Social Thursday night that he had been indicted, though his lawyers have stressed that they have not seen the indictment itself, simply a summons and notification from the Justice Department.
Trump is slated to appear in federal court in South Florida Tuesday at 3:00 p.m.
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You can listen to Dalton’s remarks in full below.
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