Speaker McCarthy Defends Trump Over Jan. 6: ‘What Criminal Activity Did He Do?’

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaks to the media during a briefing in National Statuary Hall at the Capitol in Washington on July 17, 2023. Alex Wong/Getty Images

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters on Wednesday he doesn’t see how former President Donald Trump could be found criminally responsible for the Capitol breach on Jan. 6, 2021.

“I don’t see how he could be found criminally responsible,” Mr. McCarthy said. “What criminal activity did he do? He told people to be peaceful.”

Mr. Trump had revealed on social media on Tuesday that he was sent a letter from special counsel Jack Smith, stating he was a target of the investigation into the events of Jan. 6. Hundreds have already been indicted in the ongoing case.

‘Election Interference’

Mr. McCarthy defended Mr. Trump in the press after the news broke Tuesday.

“I guess under a Biden administration, Biden America, you can expect this,” he told reporters.

“If you’ve noticed recently, President Trump went up in the polls, so what do they do now? Weaponize government, to go after their number one opponent. It’s time and time again—I think the American public is tired of this, they want to see equal justice, and the idea that they use this to go after those who politically disagree with them is wrong.”

Mr. Trump has also called the move “election interference” on the part of the Biden administration.

“The Democrat prosecutors waited years to bring charges so that they could interfere with the 2024 presidential election!” he wrote on Truth Social. “They are getting, however, big blowback!”

He said at a later event, “They’ve even sent a letter on a Sunday night. And they’re in a rush because they want to interfere ... It’s election interference–never been done like this in the history of our country.”

Conservative radio personality Mark Levin also echoed the motive and wrote, “AG Garland and his appointee, Jack Smith, must be held to account by the House, professional organizations, and ethics comittees for their brazen interference in the 2024 election.”

Conservative talk-show host Mark Levin speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2016 at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md., on March 4, 2016. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

He took to Twitter with a long post detailing the consequences of the prosecutors’ actions, alleging political motives behind the charges.

“The seriousness of what is being done to Donald Trump by local and federal Democrat prosecutors cannot be overstated. it is alarming. It is shocking. And this republic is teetering,” he wrote. “It is extremely difficult to fight all these prosecutors, and fight for your freedom, and run for president at the same time. And these prosecutors know it.”

“The fundamental transformation of America' they are constantly talking about will have been enshrined, with more to come,” he wrote. “This is tyranny.”

‘Fighting for You’

Mr. Trump is embroiled in several other cases as he continues to lead the GOP nominee hopefuls by double digits.

Just this week, a judge refused his request to shift his New York criminal case to federal court on Wednesday, the same day another federal judge gave Mr. Trump an unfavorable ruling in a civil case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll. On Tuesday, a federal judge heard pre-trial arguments in Florida regarding the classified documents case. Mr. Trump had been arraigned on June 13, where he pleaded not guilty to 37 felony charges.

Notably, his approval ratings rose after each major legal challenge, and it hasn’t slowed his campaign schedule much.

Audience members stand on chairs to photograph former President Donald Trump at a speech for the Turning Point Action Conference at the Palm Beach County Convention Center on July 15, 2023. Janice Hisle/The Epoch Times

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump sat down with Fox News host Sean Hannity at an Iowa interview event, where he vowed to “fight any and all politically charged indictments.”

Supporters of Mr. Trump have said that GOP frontrunner is gaining so much support from the public because he is not only fighting for himself, but for the American people—a theme he has always campaigned on.

“If elected, he is also planning to completely reform America’s two-tiered system of justice and weaponized justice system,” Mr. Hannity said.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote, “They’re targeting President Trump because he’s fighting for you!”

Candidates Respond

His rivals for the GOP nomination were not nearly as supportive.

“It’s gonna keep on going,” Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Hayley told Fox News, calling the legal “drama” a “distraction.”

“That’s why I am running,” she continued. “It’s because we need a new generational leader. We can’t keep dealing with this drama. We can’t keep dealing with the negativity. We can’t keep dealing with all of this.”

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said an indictment was likely.

“I have said from the beginning that Donald Trump’s actions on January 6 should disqualify him from ever being President again,” he said in a statement.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gave a mixed response at a campaign event. “He should have come out more forcefully,” he said of Trump’s response to the Jan. 6 breach. “But to try to criminalize that, that’s a different issue entirely.”

Vivek Ramaswamy made an appeal to justice, detailing on Twitter how the charges could very well prevent Mr. Trump from taking office and called the indictments “un-American.”

“We should know whose invisible hand is guiding these indictments, which is why I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) demand to uncover *exactly* what the White House communicated to Garland & Smith to target Biden’s disfavored opponent in this election,” he wrote. “We will get to the bottom of it, including by suing in federal court if necessary.”