Some of Wyoming’s top elected officials went out of their way to comment on former President Donald Trump’s indictment, and some didn’t.
All three of Wyoming’s congressional delegation commented on the 37-count indictment, expressing universal opposition to the new charges filed against Trump last week.
Barrasso
“This indictment certainly looks like an unequal application of justice,” U.S. Sen. John Barrasso said on Twitter on Friday afternoon. “Nobody is above the law. Yet it seems like some are.”
Barrasso mentioned how classified documents were found in Biden’s garage from his time as vice president under former President Barack Obama, but he hasn’t faced charges. Biden said he took the documents by accident, an assertion many Democrats have agreed with.
Prosecutors have said Trump actively resisted efforts to retrieve the documents and didn’t provide all of the documents requested after multiple attempts. Trump has argued that he declassified all the material he took with him after his time at the White House.
Lummis
U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis also denounced the indictment.
She said in a Friday afternoon Twitter post the Department of Justice has been weaponized under Biden against a possible future political opponent, but also said she has “serious concerns” about classified documents being handled improperly. Lummis believes all leaders should be held to the same standard on the issue.
“The question is, will he (Biden) be held to the same standard as President Trump?” she questioned.
Hageman
U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman was the first member of the delegation to comment, issuing a press release Thursday evening.
A land and water attorney, she described the federal government’s case against Trump as “ridiculously weak.” She believes the charges are politically motivated and only brought because Trump is running for office again.
“The criminal prosecution of political adversaries is something that Third World countries do, and it’s the sort of thing that the United States of America used to be against,” Hageman said. “In Joe Biden’s America, the federal government is mobilized against political enemies in an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial power.”
Gray Weighs In, Others Don’t
Wyoming’s top five state elected officials were quieter on the subject.
Secretary of State Chuck Gray was the only one who commented, issuing two separate statements. He didn’t mince any words that he thinks the indictment is a sham.
“The woke left’s outrageous weaponization of the legal system continues,” Gray said in a Friday social media post. “The left’s indictment of President Trump is election interference. I stand with President Trump!”
After Trump’s arraignment hearing Tuesday, Gray issued another statement, echoing the former president’s description of the case as a “witch hunt.” He also urged all of Trump’s 2024 challengers to pledge to pardon Trump on the charges should he be convicted and another Republican is elected into the White House.
Gray sought Trump’s endorsement during his 2021 U.S. House campaign. That endorsement ended up going to Hageman, who defeated former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney in her 2022 Republican reelection campaign.
Gray then earned Trump’s endorsement during his 2022 campaign for Secretary of State.
Trump also endorsed State Treasurer Curt Meier and former Superintendent of Public Instruction Brian Schroeder in their 2022 campaigns. Meier won unopposed, but Schroeder lost to Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder in the Republican primary.
Gov. Mark Gordon, Meier, State Auditor Kristi Racines and Degenfelder made no comment about the Trump indictment.
Trump has been critical of Gordon in the past, and during a January radio interview described him as "very liberal."
Trump didn’t endorse a candidate during the 2022 Wyoming gubernatorial election, but endorsed Gordon’s Republican primary opponent Foster Friess in 2018.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
