Former President Donald Trump was indicted by a New York City grand jury Thursday afternoon, making him the first current or former president to face criminal charges.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has been investigating the former president in connection with his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover-up involving adult film star Stormy Daniels that dates to the 2016 presidential election.
Wyoming Republican U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, a consistent Trump loyalist, was quick to defend the former president in a press release put out immediately after the indictment was announced.
She describes Trump’s prosecution as “a political witch hunt,” the same phrase she used to describe the work of the U. S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, which concluded Trump incited his followers into a violent riot.
“It’s a sad day for this country when the political opponents of a former president use the judicial system to weaponize the government and settle scores,” Hageman said. “Even though other state and federal prosecutors have passed on this case, D.A. Alvin Bragg clearly always intended to fulfill his campaign promise, which was to ‘personally’ focus on Donald Trump.”
Wyoming Republican U.S. Sens. Cynthia Lummis and John Barrasso also decried the indictment, calling it a political move by the New York district attorney.
Lummis said in a statement that she has “concerns that these charges are politically motivated.”
“Previous prosecutors have walked away from this issue, knowing that high-profile, wealthy people like Donald Trump deal with matters such as this like a nuisance lawsuit; they protect family and reputation by paying for the silence of the accuser, regardless of the voracity of the allegations,” Lummis said.
“New York continues to be plagued by violent crime, so it begs the question why the Soros-funded DA is so focused on former President Trump? This thing smells bad,” she said.
Barrasso called Trump’s indictment “politically motivated by a far-left activist” in a statement released Thursday afternoon.
“If it was anyone other than President Trump, a case like this would never be brought,” he said. “Instead of ordering political hit jobs, New York prosecutors should focus on getting violent criminals off the streets.”
A ‘Vendetta’
Hageman also described the indictment as “calculated and premeditated vendetta politics” that has no place in America.
She was endorsed by Trump in her 2022 campaign. Trump hosted a rally on Hageman’s behalf in Casper in May 2022 that was attended by more than 10,000 people.
“We are again seeing glaring evidence of a two-tiered criminal justice system,” Hageman said. “Mr. Bragg has downgraded felony cases, including violent offenses, to misdemeanors more than half of the time since he’s been in office.
“So, if you are a violent criminal in New York, you can rest assured that the District Attorney is on your side. But if you are the former President of the United States from the other political party, you are on the enemies list.”
Trump has not yet been arrested and CNN reported that Bragg’s office will reach out to his attorneys to discuss his surrender to face an arraignment.
The indictment could play a factor in Trump’s 2024 presidential election chances.
Although most of his supporters say they still consider his presidential term a success, many have expressed being open to considering a new Republican candidate in 2024, citing Trump’s many legal battles and lukewarm support from swing voters.
Trump Responds
“This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history,” Trump says in a Thursday afternoon statement. “From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States, the Radical Left Democrats – the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country – have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement.”
Earlier Thursday, Hageman sat in a meeting of a Subcommittee of the Weaponization of the Federal Government, where the panel discussed allegations of abuse made by President Joe Biden’s administration to try to control social media companies and manipulate what information users see on the platforms.
