Former President Donald Trump was arraigned in court on Tuesday on criminal felony charges, leading many Republicans to fear that it could set a precedent for more political prosecutions in the future.
Right-wing lawmakers and strategists have called the indictment a “weaponization” of the criminal justice system with politically-charged motivations, predicting that indicting Trump will only open the door to more former presidents or other political figures standing before a jury.
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Some GOP members are comparing Trump’s indictment — for which he arrived in New York on Tuesday relating to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign — to the House Republican impeachment of former President Bill Clinton in 1998 on charges related to an affair with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
“I think it is a terrible precedent for the country,” former Rep. Vin Weber (R-MN), who is now a Republican strategist, told the Hill. “I think it’s bad for America, bad for the Republican Party, and it’s bad for the political system in our country. Once you start down this path, there’s no way you’re going to reverse it. That’s what we saw with impeachment.”
Trump made history in 2021, becoming the first president to be impeached twice, with the House of Representatives voting to oust him following the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Ten Republicans joined the Democrats in voting to impeach. He was first impeached by the House in 2019 over his dealings with Ukraine, but the Senate voted to acquit him in 2020.
Democrats have countered Republicans’ criticism of Trump’s indictment and arrest, stating that no one is above the law, even a former president. However, some are wary of the misconduct that the grand jury is focusing on, as it has been publicly known for five years and several other prosecutors passed on the opportunity to indict Trump.
Bragg is the first prosecutor to deliver charges against the former president, something Weber said will not be the last the public sees of similar methods.
“We’re going to see political prosecutions brought, some of them for meritorious reasons, some of them to advance the careers of the prosecutors. But all of this is harmful to America and our political process,” Weber said.
Another aspect of the indictment derives from the fact that Trump is the leading Republican presidential nominee for the 2024 election, with steady leads in many recent polls.
Weber pointed to Republicans already in talks about bringing charges against President Joe Biden or his son Hunter Biden after the president leaves office, a conversation topic that was at the forefront of the House GOP’s agenda when they assumed the majority following the 2022 midterm elections.
“I don’t know if that’s likely or not, but we’re going to see something somewhere,” Weber said.
Several lawmakers have shared their opinions about Trump’s indictment, framing it as motivated by politics and undermining the institution of the presidency.
“These charges aren’t about enforcing the law. Democrats barely pretend they are. They are the left telling the nation, we’re in charge here. And if you threaten us, we will destroy you,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) tweeted last week.
Former Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) called the indictment “extremely dangerous for our democracy.”
“It creates an atmosphere where the courts are being used as a political weapon,” Gregg said. “It undermines, I think, the confidence of the American people in their democracy, in their legal system.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has pointed to similar charges brought against Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) that were later thrown out at trial after he was accused of using $1 million in payments from political donors to support his mistress during the 2008 campaign — Democrats at the time had called the charges politically motivated, as they were brought down by a Republican prosecutor.
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He also referenced Hillary Clinton funding Steele dossier research and characterizing it as legal payments, proving that Bragg is playing politics.
“It makes [it] obvious this is partisan politics,” he said.
