McConnell, Senate GOP brass mum on Trump documents indictment: ‘Pretty damning’
As many House Republicans defend former president and current candidate Donald Trump amid his federal indictment, top party leaders in US Senate have remained mum, in the hopes the charges “finally” take “him out” of political power, according to a new report.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and other top lawmakers have not rushed to defend Trump following the 37-count indictment that he mishandled classified documents.
A Senate Republican aide said the indictment is “pretty damning.”
“The documents that he did have and who he was showing them to and where he was storing them is all pretty damning,” the aide told The Hill.
“I don’t know if it will make a difference in the political landscape but it certainly seems pretty bad.”
Another former GOP Senate told the media outlet: “They want him to go away so they wouldn’t be very upset if this is the thing that finally takes him out.”
Meanwhile, many House Republicans have claimed the charges pursued by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith is a witch hunt against the former president.
The Senate source reportedly said “Jack Smith is very credible” and may have found the “silver bullet” to knock Trump out of politics with a criminal conviction.
McConnell, who avoids mentioning Trump’s name in public, has reportedly told his caucus the 76-year-old is a flawed candidate who will drag down GOP candidates if he is the party’s White House nominee.
Other GOP leaders — Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) — also don’t want Trump as the party’s 2024 presidential nominee, according to the report.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said the charges brought by the Department of Justice are “quite serious and cannot be casually dismissed.”
“Mishandling classified documents is a federal crime because it can expose national secrets, as well as the sources and methods they were obtained through,” she said.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who twice voted to impeach Trump, said in a statement, “By all appearances, the Justice Department and special counsel have exercised due care, affording Mr. Trump the time and opportunity to avoid charges that would not generally have been afforded to others.
“Mr. Trump brought these charges upon himself by not only taking classified documents, but by refusing to simply return them when given numerous opportunities to do so,” he said.
The 49-page indictment against former President Donald Trump was unsealed in Miami on Friday, making it his second indictment in as many months and marks the first time in US history a former president has faced federal charges.
The charges, which include 31 counts of willful retention of national defense documents and conspiring to obstruct justice, follow Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s April indictment for Trump’s alleged falsification of business records as part of a scheme to silence porn actress Stormy Daniels.
But one top member of the GOP leadership team, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and several Senate conservatives have come to Trump’s defense, including Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah).
“This indictment certainly looks like an unequal application of justice. Nobody is above the law. Yet it seems like some are,” Barrasso, the Senate Republican Conference chairman said. .
“Large amounts of classified materials were found in President Biden’s garage in Delaware. No indictment. Hillary Clinton had a computer server in her house with classified documents. No indictment. We are learning more and more about the ethical mess President Biden and his family were involved in. No indictments,” he said.
“You can’t help but ask why this is happening. It feels political, and it’s rotten.”
“The Biden administration’s actions can only be compared to the type of oppressive tactics routinely seen in nations such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua, which are absolutely alien and unacceptable in America,” Lee said in a statement.
“It is an affront to our country’s glorious 246-year legacy of independence from tyranny, for the incumbent president of the United States to leverage the machinery of justice against a political rival.”
Trump said he will continue his 2024 run for the White House even if he is convicted in the classified documents. He also faces dozens of felony chargers related to alleged business fraud in Manhattan, where he was also recently found liable for sexual assault.
The perpetual candidate is also under federal investigation for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 riots and is being investigated for alleged election fraud in Georgia.
“I’ll never leave,” Trump told Politico on Saturday, “Look, if I would have left, I would have left prior to the original race in 2016. That was a rough one. In theory that was not doable.”
