Just minutes after a federal grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump on a slew of charges related to his actions during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, top House Republicans jumped to Trump’s defense and decried the allegations as a political distraction ahead of a crucial election cycle.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) posted to social media about an hour after the indictment was unsealed and said it comes as no surprise that following the testimony from Hunter Biden‘s business associate, Devon Archer, on Monday, the Justice Department would indict Trump to distract from the news.
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“We’ve recently learned: Hunter received money from China (contradicting President Biden’s claim); President Biden spoke with Hunter’s business associates over 20 times (contradicting what Biden previously claimed); Biden’s DOJ tried to secretly give Hunter broad immunity and admitted the sweetheart deal was unprecedented,” McCarthy said in the post. “Everyone in America could see what was going to come next: DOJ’s attempt to distract from the news and attack the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, President Trump. House Republicans will continue to uncover the truth about Biden Inc. and the two-tiered system of justice.”
House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) released a statement shortly after the charges were unsealed on Tuesday evening, saying the Department of Justice is being weaponized against Trump in order to boost President Joe Biden‘s reelection prospects.
“President Trump had every right under the First Amendment to correctly raise concerns about election integrity in 2020,” Stefanik said in a statement. “Despite the DOJ’s illegal attempt to interfere in the 2024 election on behalf of Joe Biden, President Trump continues to skyrocket in the polls and will defeat Joe Biden and be sworn in as President of the United States in January 2025.”
Stefanik criticized the timing of the indictment, which came just one day after Congress heard testimony from a longtime business associate of Hunter Biden, whom lawmakers have been investigating over the last several months over allegations of international influence peddling schemes. The Republican leader accused the DOJ of using the indictment to distract from Devon Archer’s testimony, which Stefanik says is evidence of “one of the greatest political corruption scandals in history.”
“Congress heard testimony from Hunter Biden’s longtime business partner that Joe Biden joined Hunter’s business calls over 20 times,” she said. “This directly contradicts Biden’s lie that he never discussed business with his son. Today’s sham indictment of Donald Trump is yet another desperate attempt to distract attention away from the mounting evidence of Joe Biden’s direct involvement in his family’s illegal influence peddling scheme.”
In a social media post after the indictment, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) compared the former president’s indictment to how Hunter Biden was treated during his criminal investigation.
“Biden’s DOJ is cutting sweetheart deals for Hunter to cover for the Biden Family’s influence peddling schemes while at the same time trying to persecute his leading political opponent. It’s an outrageous abuse of power,” Scalise said in his post.
Other Republicans were quick to chime in, echoing similar sentiments and arguing the charges were merely being used to distract from Biden’s own troubles.
“It’s no surprise at all that following Devon Archer’s damning testimony yesterday, the DOJ drops more charges against President Trump,” said Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), vice chairman of the House GOP conference. “Their efforts at distraction can never change the real problem: President Biden is in serious trouble.”
Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) was also among the first Republicans to react to news of the indictment, claiming Trump “did nothing wrong!”
“When you drain The Swamp, The Swamp fights back,” he said in a statement.
Trump was indicted by a grand jury on four separate federal charges: One count of conspiracy to defraud the United States; one count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; one count of obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and one count of conspiracy against rights.
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Trump has long maintained innocence in all investigations related to the Jan. 6 riot, accusing the Biden administration of unfairly targeting him because of his front-runner status in the GOP presidential primary. The former president released a statement shortly before his indictment was unsealed, denouncing the charges as “prosecutorial misconduct.
“Why didn’t they do this 2.5 years ago? Why did they wait so long?” he wrote in a Truth Social post. “Because they wanted to put it right in the middle of my campaign.”
