April 4, 2023
by Elizabeth Elkind
Former President Trump’s allies in Congress say his Tuesday arrest in New York City is an attack on the rule of law and the U.S. justice system, after they embattled Republican leader plead “not guilty” to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Many also heaped criticism on District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case against Trump, and accused him of being funded and controlled by billionaire Democratic donor George Soros.
“The arrest and arraignment of former President Donald Trump by a left-wing Soros prosecutor today is making a mockery of the rule of law. Not only is the indictment frivolous, this political persecution marks a dark day for our country,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said soon after the ex-commander-in-chief turned himself in to a downtown Manhattan courthouse.
Trump did not stop to speak to media on his way in or out of the courtroom, but his political allies made the case for him that the arrest was unjustified.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., briefly led a protest near the courthouse held by the New York Young Republican Club before being drowned out by the crowd. She later wrote on Twitter with a picture of Trump entering the building, “Communist Democrats arrested President Trump because he’s the only man standing in their way as they fight for a hostile takeover of America. We will never abandon him.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., the House GOP Conference Chair and one of Trump’s most ardent backers on Capitol Hill, released a lengthy statement accusing Bragg of “illegal overreach” and claiming the prosecution was done to derail his 2024 bid.
“The shameful arrest of President Trump is an unprecedented and chilling chapter in the Left’s weaponization of the justice system against their leading political opponent,” Stefanik said.
“This dangerous and illegal overreach by a radical DA has completely backfired for the corrupt Far Left Democrats who would rather desperately tear apart the fabric of our country than face President Trump at the ballot box,” Stefanik added. “The American people are smart, and they know this is politically charged and that President Trump will defeat these charges in court and turn the tables on the Far Left Democrats by exposing their corruption and abuse of power.”
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fl., the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that Tuesday marked “a bad day for all of us” regardless of one’s feelings toward Trump.
“Put aside for a moment whether you like Trump or not like him, whether you’re for him or not for him. Today is a bad day for all of us. Today, American politics crosses a line that it’s never gonna come back from,” Rubio said in a video. “What’s going to stop some Republican or conservative prosecutor now from saying, well now I’m going to go after Joe Biden or his family. Or Bill Clinton, or Hillary Clinton. Or Nancy Pelosi – whoever….today we set the new normal that if you really want to take someone down, nothing should stop you.”
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., compared Trump’s arrest and charges to judicial proceedings in authoritarian countries.
“President Trump’s arrest and indictment are what’d you see in authoritarian regimes. This is what you’d see in China, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, and the former Soviet Union. It is disgusting and Bragg won’t be let off the hook,” Biggs said.
See the full article on Fox News here.
