Republicans must once again decide whether, and how, to defend former President Donald Trump from his legal troubles.
On Friday, the Justice Department unveiled its bombshell 37-count indictment against Trump, laying bare the US government’s contention that Trump lied, schemed and tried to hide classified documents at his Mar-a residence -Lago after leaving the White House. He is the first former president of the United States to face federal charges.
While some Republicans have remained silent, or even condemned Trump’s actions, many have rushed to his defense, often coming up with creative ways to insist that the Justice Department should not prosecute the former president
Trump is accused of breaking seven laws and charged with 37 felonies.
Here’s how some in the GOP are defending Trump:
The bathroom was safe
Republic of Florida Byron Donalds: “There are 33 bathrooms at Mar-a-Lago. So don’t act like it’s just some random bathroom where guests can walk in.”
President of the Chamber Kevin McCarthy: “Is it a good image to have boxes in a garage that opens all the time? A bathroom door is locked.”
The federal indictment alleges that Trump stored classified documents “in various locations around Mar-a-Lago, including in an office space, his bedroom and particularly unconventional storage areas in a bathroom and a shower.
The indictment even showed a color photo of more than two dozen boxes on the marble bathroom floor.
This image, contained in the indictment against former President Donald Trump, shows boxes of records stored in a bathroom and shower in the lake room at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.Department of Justice via AP
And while most bathroom doors lock, they usually lock from the inside.
Trump is not a spy
The WSJ Editorial Board: “As much of a gentleman as he was with the classified files, Mr. Trump did not take a bribe or leak secrets to Russia. The FBI recovered the missing documents when it raided Mar-a-Lago, so it’s assuming there are no more secret attack plans for Mr. Trump to show off.”
Host of Fox News Mark Levin: “There is not one syllable of evidence here that any information under the Espionage Act was passed to any spy, to any enemy, to any foreign country, or to one.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham: “The accusations of espionage are absolutely ridiculous. Whether you like Trump or not, he did not commit espionage. He did not leak, leak or provide information to a foreign power or news organization to harm this country. He is not a spy. It’s overloaded.”
Thirty-one of the 37 charges against Trump stem from the Espionage Act of 1917. The indictment accuses Trump of illegally withholding documents detailing some of America’s most closely guarded secrets and of “endeavoring” to obstruct government efforts to recover them, among other charges. .
Stealth government spies like those seen in Hollywood thrillers are charged under the Espionage Act, but so is an individual who “preserve voluntarily” national defense information and then does not return it to government officials when they try to retrieve it.
Trump could declassify anything he wanted
Rep. Beth VanDuyne: “As president, Trump could declassify anything he wanted.”
Many of the former president’s defenders have maintained that Trump could declassify anything as president, and Trump himself has claimed that he declassified the documents.
“You’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified, even thinking about it,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in September 2022.
But the indictment argues that Trump knew his administration did not complete the standard declassification process and accuses Trump of showing the documents to people without security clearance, including a book author.
“Look as the president, I could have declassified it,” Trump was heard saying on a recording. “I can’t now, you know, but this is still a secret.”
What about Biden?
McCarthy: “We have a sitting president who possessed classified documents dating back decades to his time as vice president and as a senator. Yet now he is arming the federal government to go after his main political opponent. Where is the justice equal to the law?”
Texas Senator Ted Cruz: “The press is having a field day saying there were documents in a bathroom at Mar-a-Lago. Well, wow, last time I checked Joe Biden had classified documents in an unlocked garage next to his old Corvette and it’s an absolute double standard.
Some of the former president’s supporters have drawn comparisons between his handling of classified information and that of President Joe Biden, but experts say the cases are very different.
Biden’s lawyers discovered a “small number” of classified documents with classified markings in a locker at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, the president’s special counsel said, and the office of the White House notified the National Archives the same day.
In Trump’s case, the National Archives notified its staff in May 2021 that some documents appeared to be missing. It wasn’t until January 2022 that Trump and his staff sent 15 boxes of documents to the archives, which they discovered contained classified documents. The FBI later obtained information that Trump had more government documents before issuing a subpoena for his return.
An August search of Mar-a-Lago later revealed that more than 100 classified documents remained at the property, ultimately leading to the charges against the former president.
Hillary Clinton let loose
South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace: “Hillary Clinton used a sledgehammer to destroy evidence from a private email server and classified information on that server and was never charged. The same standard should apply to everyone, including Donald Trump.“
Colorado Rep Lauren Boebert: “Yesterday, Hillary Clinton had the nerve to sell merchandise while gloating about Trump’s impeachment. The two-tier justice system in our nation is completely out of control. Hillary has committed more crimes than anyone and here he’s selling hats and laughing.”
The FBI investigated Clinton for months over her use of a private email server as secretary of state to determine whether she mishandled classified information.
In 2016, then-FBI director James Comey said that Clinton was “extremely careless” in her handling of classified information, but that “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring a case against her and that her actions did not rise to the level of accusations of criminality or order.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in New York in 2022.File Seth Wenig / AP
But Trump has now been accused of mishandling classified documents and trying to obstruct the government’s efforts to recover them, which experts say are more serious crimes Clinton never faced.
The Biden administration is getting back at Trump
Senator from Missouri Josh Hawley: “We are seeing for the first time in American history … a sitting president of the United States trying to throw his opponent in jail.”
Representation of Arizona Andy Biggs: “We mourn another example of the weaponization of our government against its people. We will use every process, every court, every legislature, every state, every local, every voice and every law to restore our nation. We are North- Americans and we will prevail, God willing.”
Some Trump allies have repeatedly said the former president’s indictment on criminal charges is proof that Biden’s Justice Department is going after his main political rival.
Biden, seeking to point to the Justice Department’s supposed independence from politics, has not commented on the accusation and has also instructed his staff to refrain from speaking publicly against the former president.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith, the former chief prosecutor of the Hague special court, as special counsel to preside over the two investigations into the former president, saying the move was “in the public interest” because both Trump and Biden are candidates for the next election. Trump called the attorney general’s decision “horrible” and a “horrible abuse of power.”
