Donald Trump indicted: Sen. Steve Daines and GOP colleagues condemn Georgia charges
Emily Jacobs
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Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) is rushing to former President Donald Trump’s defense after a Georgia grand jury indicted him over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The former president and 18 others were named in a 41-count indictment handed down in Fulton County, Georgia, late Monday evening that accuses the group of unlawfully conspiring to conduct and participate in a “criminal enterprise” following Trump’s 2020 election loss in the Peach State.
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The indictment marks the fifth set of charges brought against the former president this year and the second set related to his attempts at reversing President Joe Biden’s election victory.
Daines, who serves as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, wrote in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that the “latest indictment of President Trump is brought by a rogue DA who is following in the footsteps of the rogue DOJ, further cementing the two systems of justice in America today.
“The justice system should be — it must be — blind, not weaponized against political opponents,” he added.
Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY), another member of leadership, echoed similar concerns in a statement to the Washington Examiner on Tuesday.
“The American people are clear-eyed about what President Trump’s political opponents are attempting to do,” Barrasso said. “They are using the justice system, timed to the election, for political purposes. Our nation deserves better.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, Daines and Barrasso are the only two members of Senate Republican leadership to speak out on the charges.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), one of Trump’s most significant political foes, has declined to speak out on any of the charges filed against the former president. Most of his allies have followed suit, though some expressed criticism of the Manhattan indictment in March.
Despite the silence from leadership, the former president’s staunchest Senate allies joined their House colleagues in lambasting the Georgia charges.
“Another day, another activist indictment of Biden’s top political opponent,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) said in a statement. “The fact that the radical Fulton County DA ‘accidentally’ published the indictment before the grand jury finished voting proves what we already know – this is pure politics.”
“Where I come from, you beat your opponents by winning fair and square. This witch hunt has gone on for long enough,” he continued. “Democrats are afraid of President Trump because they know he will expose their corruption. The American people deserve an equal justice system – not one that twists the law to fit their politics.”
Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) wrote on X, “Once again, a far-left prosecutor has weaponized their position to target President Trump while the Biden family’s corruption is swept under the rug. This two-tiered administration of justice must end.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) posted on the same social media platform that the “only surprise” about the “far-left prosecutors” indicting Trump this week was that it came four days after the latest revelations related to President Joe Biden’s family, rather than the typical 24 hours later.
“Every time we learn more about potential Biden family corruption, @JoeBiden’s DOJ indicts his top political opponent,” Scott wrote in an earlier post that he shared Tuesday.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) made a similar observation, writing on X, “The newest charges against Trump in Fulton County come just days after AG Garland elevated Weiss to special counsel in the Hunter Biden case.”
In addition to the Georgia case, Trump faces four federal counts in a separate 2020 election case brought by special counsel Jack Smith. The charges include conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights, according to the 45-page indictment.
The indictment largely hinges on the allegation that Trump was aware that his words and actions related to overturning the 2020 election were based on falsities.
The indictment states that from roughly Nov. 14, 2020, to Jan. 20, 2021, Trump “did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate, and agree with co-conspirators, known and unknown to the grand jury, to injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate one or more persons in the free exercise and enjoyment of a right and privilege secured to them by the Constitution and laws of the United States — that is, the right to vote, and to have one’s vote counted.”
In addition to the Jan. 6 charges, Trump faces 40 counts in the Justice Department’s classified documents case against him, which Smith said in May were related to “felony violations of our national security laws as well as participating in a conspiracy to obstruct justice.”
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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Trump in late March on charges related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty, and a trial has been scheduled for March of next year.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in the hush money and documents matters and vowed to fight both sets of charges. He has also maintained his innocence in the state and federal investigations of his handling of his 2020 election loss.