Lawmakers are reacting to additional charges being brought against former President Donald Trump by special counsel Jack Smith on Thursday evening in his investigation into the mishandling of classified documents from his time at the White House.
Republicans are voicing concerns over the news, which charge more Trump affiliates in the case.
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Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) said it was no coincidence that these charges were added after Hunter Biden's plea deal with the Department of Justice fell through Wednesday, adding they “cannot allow this to stand.”
“Now we're down to charging like random people just throwing those into the indictments,” Hawley said.
Carlos De Oliveira, the head of maintenance at Mar-a-Lago, was added to the obstruction conspiracy charge in the original indictment.
De Oliveira assisted Trump aide Walt Nauta in moving boxes of classified documents around Mar-a-Lago following the DOJ’s initial subpoena last May. The court filing states De Oliveira told an IT worker that Trump asked for the surveillance footage at the estate to be erased. New charges were also brought against Nauta.
“Is it any coincidence that the DOJ rushes to add these new indictments today after the Hunter debacle, after their own self-dealing and two-timing is exposed after they tried to hide from us the true extent of this plea deal that gets blown up, and then it's like, ‘Oh, we got to go indict Trump on something else,’” Hawley said on Fox News.
“I mean, it's so brazen right now what they're doing. It is really a subversion of the rule of law,” Hawley said. “I mean, taking the rule of law, turning it on its head.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who has long criticized the DOJ's multiple investigations into Trump, pointed to a two-tiered justice system.
The DOJ’s decision to pursue additional charges against President Trump is further evidence of the politicization of our nation’s top prosecutorial agency. Amid AG Garland's dismissal of wrongdoing by Hunter Biden & Hillary Clinton, Tennesseans are tired of two tiers of justice.
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) July 27, 2023
“The DOJ’s decision to pursue additional charges against President Trump is further evidence of the politicization of our nation’s top prosecutorial agency,” Blackburn wrote. “Amid AG Garland's dismissal of wrongdoing by Hunter Biden & Hillary Clinton, Tennesseans are tired of two tiers of justice.”
Across party lines, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) addressed the latest charges while speaking at the Voters Tomorrow submit in Washington, D.C.
@SpeakerPelosi, speaking at @VotersTomorrow summit, re latest Trump charges: “The very idea that we’re talking about such things … the very idea that his supporters think he is above the law.” pic.twitter.com/rXhwgmWTjg
— Erin Doherty (@erinpdoherty) July 27, 2023
“The very idea that we’re talking about such things … the very idea that his supporters think he is above the law,” Pelosi said.
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“Some thug has now turned the Republican Party into a cult to him,” Pelosi said about Trump. “I used to call him a pig, but I thought at least a pig has bacon.”
Trump was facing 37 criminal charges and has been charged with three new counts, according to the court docket: one willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts.