Trump allies erupt in fury over former president's indictment

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s most fervent Capitol Hill allies erupted in fury Thursday night as news of his indictment rocked the country. They rushed to his defense and blasted New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of the GOP presidential front-runner as a political witch hunt designed to influence the 2024 election.

“Outrageous,” tweeted Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who is using his roles as chairman of the Judiciary and Weaponization of the Federal Government committees to investigate Bragg’s work.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., whom Trump endorsed in his bid for speaker, wrote that Bragg “has irreparably damaged our country in an attempt to interfere in our Presidential election” and “weaponized our sacred system of justice against President Donald Trump.”

McCarthy hinted that GOP-controlled House committees could soon subpoena Bragg to compel his testimony before Congress: “The American people will not tolerate this injustice, and the House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account.”

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Jordan, as well as House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., sent a letter this month asking Bragg to testify before Congress about his investigation into hush money payments Trump made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, Trump’s former White House physician, tweeted: “Alvin Bragg is a NATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT to our justice system. President Trump has been proven to have done NO wrong. This is nothing more than a political stunt to prevent Trump from becoming President in 2024! WITCH HUNT!”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who was preparing to deliver a Lincoln Day address in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on Thursday night, tweeted, "The irony of standing on the battleground when I found out President Trump has been indicted is profound."

Greene said Trump was innocent and “the only one standing in the way of these modern day tyrants, just like our founding fathers did, to protect each of us from evil.”

“Impeach Biden,” she continued. “He’s given us every reason and the family banking records and more are giving us receipts. But now that the gloves are off. Prosecute any and all crimes. Enough of this witch hunt bullshit.”

On the other side of the Capitol, a onetime Trump presidential rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tweeted: “The Democrat Party’s hatred for Donald Trump knows no bounds."

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“The ‘substance’ of this political persecution is utter garbage,” said Cruz, a former Texas solicitor general. “This is completely unprecedented and is a catastrophic escalation in the weaponization of the justice system.”

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., warned that Democrats "will regret this."

“Tonight’s indictment of Donald Trump isn’t about the law. It’s about power. Raw power. ... It is an assault on our democracy, pure and simple," Hawley tweeted.

Ohio Sen. JD Vance, one of the five GOP senators who has already endorsed Trump in the 2024 presidential primary, said in a statement the indictment represents a “political persecution masquerading as law.”

“Alvin Bragg’s decision to indict him is blatant election interference and a direct assault on the tens of millions of Americans who support him," said Vance, whose victory in a competitive Senate primary last year is largely credited to Trump’s endorsement.

“Instead of working to improve the lives of the Americans they are supposed to represent, the ruling party is focused on kneecapping their greatest threat in the next election,” Vance added. “The American people will see this for exactly what it is: a grave miscarriage of justice.”