Trump’s 2024 Republican rivals criticise ‘weaponisation’ of US Justice Department after indictment
- Donald Trump has been indicted over his handling of classified documents after leaving office
- Ron DeSantis, Trump’s top 2024 rival, among Republican challengers who came to the defence of Trump
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Donald Trump becomes first ex-US president to face criminal charges: lawyer
The indictment of a former US president on federal charges is unprecedented in American history, a case made more extraordinary by the fact that Trump is the front-runner in the Republican race to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden next year.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and US Senator Tim Scott on Thursday were among the presidential candidates who accused the Justice Department of political bias following news that Trump had been indicted by a federal grand jury for retaining classified documents, obstructing justice and other crimes.
“The weaponisation of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society,” DeSantis, who is running a distant second behind Trump in the polls, wrote on Twitter. “We have for years witnessed an uneven application of the law depending upon political affiliation.”
Scott, who is polling in the single digits, also criticised what he called the “weaponisation” of federal prosecutors.
“Today what we see is a justice system where the scales are weighted,” he said in an interview on Fox News.