A number of prominent Republicans have refrained from reacting to news of former President Donald Trump’s indictment since a Manhattan grand jury approved the charges on Thursday.
Both Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) broke with Trump as he refused to concede his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden. The top two Senate Republicans rarely discuss the former president in public, though they’ll speak out when necessary to dispute misleading assertions that downplay the violence that occurred at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. McConnell has famously not taken Trump’s calls since December 2020.
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McConnell, a primary target of Trump’s, remains at home for the coming weeks while recovering from a concussion, allowing him to avoid journalists in the Senate halls who could ask him directly about the indictment. Thune will also be able to dodge questions from reporters until the Senate returns from recess on April 17.
His and Thune’s silence comes in sharp contrast to House GOP leaders, all of whom were quick to condemn the news and promise Congressional oversight efforts. House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) has been reported to be in regular contact with Trump in the last week, walking him through GOP plans to respond to the criminal charges.
Stefanik, the fourth-highest ranking Republican in the House and a key Trump ally, ran for her current leadership role in May 2021 after the conference voted former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) out of the position for breaking with the former president.
Cheney rose to become a leading Trump critic who served on the Jan. 6 House select committee, which made her one of the 45th president’s top GOP targets. She went on to lose her seat in 2022 after a Trump-backed challenger defeated her in the primary, and has since gone on to teach as she mulls her political future.
Despite being a frequent Trump critic who has pledged her political career to ensuring the former president never returns to the Oval Office, Cheney has been silent in the days since Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted him. Once named as a potential 2024 GOP contender, Cheney has avoided being in the constant spotlight, rarely tweeting or commenting on political matters since leaving office in January.
Bragg, a Democrat who has refused to prosecute a number of offenses since taking office last January, indicted Trump Thursday on charges related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016. The indictment marks the first time a former U.S. president has been criminally charged.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, testified before Congress in 2019 that he paid Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, $130,000 during the 2016 campaign to prevent her from going public about an affair she claimed to have with Trump in 2005. Cohen, who pleaded guilty and served time over the alleged payment, told lawmakers Trump reimbursed him in monthly installments.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to fight the charges.
Cheney is not the only Trump critic to withhold comment on the history-making indictment.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is mulling a 2024 bid and is expected to announce a decision in the coming weeks, has not reacted to news of the charges. While Christie lined up behind Trump in 2016 after dropping out of the White House race himself, he wasn’t thanked for his loyalty and was snubbed over the next four years, never receiving an administration post. He officially broke with Trump for good after Jan. 6.
Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a longtime Trump foe who said last month he wouldn’t enter the 2024 primary, has also yet to comment.
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South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who has largely been a Trump ally through the years, has grown somewhat critical of the former president. She suggested in November that the former president did not represent the “best chance” for Republicans to win back the White House in 2024 in a rare rebuke.
With days having passed since the indictment news, she has yet to join the chorus of allies who rushed to Trump’s defense.
