Donald Trump indictment: Kevin McCarthy says Trump indictment marks a ‘dark day’ for America
Eden Villalovas
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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) opposed the indictment of former President Donald Trump on Thursday evening, pronouncing it “a dark day for the United States of America.”
“It is unconscionable for a President to indict the leading candidate opposing him. Joe Biden kept classified documents for decades,” McCarthy stated on Twitter.
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Several Republican lawmakers are saying the indictment is being used as a distraction from bribery accusations against President Joe Biden‘s family.
GOP leaders from the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability were shown a redacted document from the FBI on Thursday. This comes after a subpoena for the bureau to release a hard copy to the committee was sent last month, as chairman James Comer (R-KY) believes the full record gives proof of bribery allegations against Biden.
“I, and every American who believes in the rule of law, stand with President Trump against this grave injustice. House Republicans will hold this brazen weaponization of power accountable,” McCarthy said.
A federal investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents is ongoing, after his attorneys discovered classified documents in the Penn Biden Center, the office used after his vice presidency, in November. The FBI uncovered a second batch of documents in Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, residence in early January. There has been no public discussion of charges against the president.
“Because you’ll notice I have never once, not one single time, suggested to the Justice Department what they should do or not do, relative to bringing a charge or not bringing a charge. I’m honest,” Biden said during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of the United Kingdom on Thursday.
Trump announced Thursday that he’s been indicted by a federal grand jury regarding mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate in a statement on his social media platform Truth Social. The GOP presidential front-runner for 2024 is facing seven criminal charges, according to a source familiar with the matter as reported by the New York Times.
“I am an innocent man. We will prove that again,” Trump said in a Truth Social reaction video.
Trump is currently the subject of several investigations. He pleaded not guilty in his first indictment, regarding the 2016 election, in early April after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The fabricated documents are in relation to hush-money payments made in the early 2000s to adult film star Stormy Daniels in an alleged attempt to cover up an affair.
Trump is also at the center of a special grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, for an investigation into Trump and his allies’ role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election.
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McCarthy faced an uphill battle to gain votes for Speaker of the House earlier this year, gathering enough support after 15 rounds of votes in what was one of the longest nominations in modern history.
Trump pushed for Republicans to unite behind McCarthy as speaker, stating on Truth Social “some really good conversations took place,” and it is time to “close the deal.”