Republicans Pledge Response to Trump Indictment

Former President Donald Trump and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy in January 2019. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Federal prosecutors have indicted former President Donald Trump on charges related to his handling of secret government documents. The indictment, released this afternoon, includes evidence Trump not only retained more than 100 classified documents after he left the presidency—which held information “regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the U.S. and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for a possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack”—but he also tried to avoid returning some of them to the government and showed two of them to people who weren’t authorized to view them, while explicitly noting that he knew he shouldn’t be showing them the documents.

Members of Congress have responded to the news exactly how you’d expect them to.

Before even seeing the allegations in the indictment, House Republicans were sticking with Trump and vowing to fight back. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called it a “dark day” for the country. And House GOP Whip Tom Emmer described the charges as “the ultimate abuse of power,” adding that the Biden administration will “be held accountable.”

A few GOP members have posted comments since it was published, but rather than shying away from their stances, they have only escalated their rhetoric in defense of Trump.

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