TAMPA, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 02: Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis attends a campaign event at Hillsborough Victory Office on November 2, 2018 in Tampa, Florida. DeSantis is running against Democratic candidate Andrew Gillum to be the next Florida governor. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) immediately offered his thoughts on Donald Trump’s latest indictment, in which he was accused of attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
On Tuesday, Trump was charged with four counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct the official electoral proceeding on January 6, 2021. DeSantis, Trump’s opponent in 2024 GOP presidential primary, took to Twitter to suggest that the former president would not get a fair trial if the jurors were residents of Washington, D.C.
“Washington, D.C. is a ‘swamp’ and it is unfair to have to stand trial before a jury that is reflective of the swamp mentality,” wrote DeSantis. “One of the reasons our country is in decline is the politicization of the rule of law. No more excuses — I will end the weaponization of the federal government.”
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DeSantis is not the only Republican official who has come to Trump’s defense amid a swarm of indictments. In a statement to The New York Times, Sen. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) echoed the conservative narrative that the Justice Department, under President Joe Biden’s orders, conducted a politically motivated investigation into Trump.
Vivek Ramaswamy, another GOP presidential candidate, called Tuesday’s indictment “un-American,” asserting in a previous statement that “Trump isn’t responsible for what happened on January 6. The real cause was systematic and pervasive censorship of citizens in the year leading up to it.”
Some Republicans, however, have not been as understanding. Former Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) was the first presidential candidate to respond to the indictment with the statement that “Trump’s presidential bid is driven by an attempt to stay out of prison and scam his supporters into footing his legal bills.”
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is running an outright anti-Trump campaign, has stated that the former president is “morally responsible for the attack on our democracy” and has urged voters to “choose a different path.”
Trump appeared at the D.C. district courthouse on Thursday for his arraignment.
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