After a Georgia grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump and 18 other people, Democrats said it showed that no one is above the law. Republicans on the other hand estimate that this is a politically motivated act against a candidate in the 2024 presidential elections.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a joint statement that Monday’s indictments and three previous indictments show “a repeated pattern of criminal activity by former the president”.
“The actions taken by the Fulton County District Attorney, along with other state and federal prosecutors, reaffirm the common belief that in America no one, not even the president, is above the law,” said Democratic congressional leaders Schumer and Jeffries.
Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy said on the social network “X”, formerly known as “Twitter”, that President Joe Biden “is using the government as a weapon against his main political opponent to interfere in the 2024 election “.
Mr. McCarthy also accused Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis of “attacking President Trump and using the impeachment to raise funds for her political career.”
Democratic lawmaker Nikema Williams, who represents the district that includes part of Fulton County, said Mr. Trump tried to manipulate Georgia’s voter turnout because he didn’t like the outcome of losing the 2020 election.
“This was an attack on our democracy. But in Fulton County we apply the law equally to everyone, even failed former presidents,” Ms. Williams said in a statement.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Drew Findling, Jennifer Litte and Marissa Goldberg, in a statement released late Monday, called the indictment “as flawed and unconstitutional as the entire process has been.”
“This biased presentation of the jury relied on self-interested and political witnesses, some of whom ran campaigns against the accused and/or received book publishing contracts and employment opportunities as a result of their testimony.” , Mr. Trump’s lawyers said.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who lost to Mr. Trump in the 2016 presidential election, told MSNBC that having a former president accused of such crimes “is a terrible moment for our country.” “.
“The only satisfaction from this situation can be that the system is working, that all the efforts of Donald Trump, his allies and his efforts to hide the truth, to undermine democracy, have been exposed and justice is being served” , Mrs. Clinton said.
Republican lawmaker Jim Jordan wrote on the X social network that Monday’s indictment “is the latest political attack in the Democrats’ Witch Hunt against President Trump.”
“He did nothing wrong!” Mr. Jordan wrote.