Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) rebuked the series of indictments against former President Donald Trump, calling trials in liberal jurisdictions “unfair” and issuing an ominous warning that these actions are “setting a bad precedent.”
Mr. Graham said he thought the case should have been brought by state officials, not a local jurisdiction.
“Are we going to let county prosecutors start prosecuting the president of the United States, the former president of the United States? You open up Pandora’s box to the presidency.”
Mr. Graham said allowing a county prosecutor to go after former president of the United States will do a lot of damage to the presidency itself over time.
“To my Democratic friends, be careful what you wish for,” he warned.
Mr. Graham insisted that the fate of President Trump should be determined by voters.
“The American people can decide whether they want him to be president or not. This should be decided at the ballot box, not a bunch of liberal jurisdictions trying to put the man in jail.”
Mr. Graham said Democrats are weaponizing the law to take down a former president.
Due Process Violation
Mr. Graham’s statements came just before a grand jury in Georgia indicted President Trump and 18 others on Monday in a case related to their alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The case was presented to the grand jury by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat.President Trump called the indictment a “witch hunt” in an Aug. 15 post on Truth Social and said the district attorney campaigned on a promise to “get Trump.”
“And what about those Indictment Documents put out today, long before the Grand Jury even voted, and then quickly withdrawn? Sounds Rigged to me! Why didn’t they Indict 2.5 years ago? Because they wanted to do it right in the middle of my political campaign. Witch Hunt!”
There are concerns that President Trump’s constitutional right to due process of law may have been violated in the Georgia indictment case.
Earlier on Monday, Reuters initially reported that the indictment document was filed. However, the outlet then updated its report after the document was removed from the court website.
The office of Ms. Willis denied that an indictment was issued. The Fulton County Superior Court clerk’s office called it “a fictitious document that has been circulated online.”
However, Reuters had preserved the initial document.
GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy criticized the incident, calling it “another disastrous Trump indictment” in an Aug. 14 post on X.
“It’s downright pathetic that Fulton County publicly posted the indictment on its website even before the grand jury had finished convening,” he said.
“Since the four prosecutions against Trump are using novel & untested legal theories, it’s fair game for him to do the same in defense: immediately file a motion to dismiss for a constitutional due process violation for publicly issuing an indictment before the grand jury had actually signed one.”
The Indictment
The Georgia indictment charges President Trump with 13 counts, including conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree; conspiracy to commit filing of false documents; solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer; and violation of the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.Other people charged in the indictment include former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis.
“The indictment alleges that rather than abide by Georgia’s legal process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia’s presidential election result,” Ms. Willis said at a brief press conference late Monday.
The Trump campaign claimed that the criminal charges are a politically-motivated attack by Ms. Willis, who had “bragged to left-wing media outlets about her efforts to take down Trump.”
The indictment has garnered support from Democrats.
“The Georgia indictment isn’t election interference. It’s the result of Trump illegally trying to overturn the election results, which was actual election interference. Trump’s projection is real,” Scott Dworkin, co-founder of Democratic Coalition, said in an Aug. 15 post on X.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) spoke out against the indictment.
“Justice should be blind, but Biden has weaponized government against his leading political opponent to interfere in the 2024 election,” he said in an Aug. 15 post. “Now a radical DA in Georgia is following Biden’s lead by attacking President Trump and using it to fundraise her political career. Americans see through this desperate sham.”
Derrick Evans, a Republican congressional candidate from West Virginia, also spoke out online about the indictment.
“Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp either announces a full pardon for President Trump or he can kiss his political career goodbye. The MAGA base will never forget nor will we forgive,” he wrote in an Aug. 15 post on X.
