(The Center Square) – Republicans in Florida are speaking out against the latest indictment of former President Donald Trump, who announced on Thursday night that he has to appear in federal court Tuesday in Miami to face charges over his handling of classified documents after he left the White House.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’s considered to be Trump’s top 2024 GOP presidential primary rival, said, “The weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society. We have for years witnessed an uneven application of the law depending upon political affiliation. Why so zealous in pursuing Trump yet so passive about Hillary [Clinton] or Hunter [Biden]? The DeSantis administration will bring accountability to the DOJ, excise political bias and end weaponization once and for all.”
After Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-A-Lago residence was raided by the FBI last August, DeSantis at the time issued a statement, saying, “The raid of MAL is another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents, while people like Hunter Biden get treated with kid gloves. Now the Regime is getting another 87k IRS agents to wield against its adversaries? Banana Republic.”
The indictment comes as a document provided by an FBI whistleblower to the U.S. House Oversight Committee claims President Joe Biden – when he was vice president under former President Barack Obama – took a $5 million bribe from a foreign national to influence public policy. Classified documents also were discovered being improperly stored at Biden's home and personal office and former Vice President Mike Pence's home. Neither has been charged.
Florida senior U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican, tweeted Thursday, “There is no limit to what these people will do to protect their power & destroy those who threaten it, even if it means ripping our country apart & shredding public faith in the institutions that hold our republic together,” referring to the Biden administration.
Several members of the Florida congressional delegation also weighed in.
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz said, “The phony Boxes Hoax indictment,” referring to the DOJ targeting Trump, “is an attempt to distract the American public from the millions of dollars in bribes that the Biden Crime Family received from foreign nationals. This scheme won't succeed. President Donald Trump will be back in the White House and Joe Biden will be Hunter’s cellmate.”
He also said, “Imagine being naive enough to believe that the Biden Bribe evidence and Trump indictment happening the same day was a coincidence.”
U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who retweeted Gaetz’s statement, said, “I saw the FBI document. BIDEN is corrupt.”
She also tweeted a statement issued by Trump, saying the indictment announcement was made on the same day the House Oversight Committee “is shown a document by the FBI showing evidence that Biden and his son were each paid $5 million dollars by a foreign national the DOJ indicts Trump. Coincidental? I think not.”
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, who also viewed the FBI document, said, "According to the confidential human source...money was moved on purpose through multiple accounts to get to Joe Biden.”
U.S. Rep. Cory Mills said, “On the very same day the FBI turns over the documents (FD-1023) exposing the Biden crime family to Congress, and the extradition of Joran van der Sloot, you see an immediate weaponization to indict and come after Pres Trump. In police work they call that a clue!”
After the FBI first raided Trump’s Florida home last August, Congress then launched an investigation into the FBI.
Over the last few days, FBI Director Chris Wray and the House Oversight Committee have tussled over the agency initially refusing to admit a document exists that was provided to committee members from a whistle blower. It reportedly provides evidence that when Joe Biden was vice president under former President Barack Obama, he and his son allegedly each took $5 million from a foreign national to influence public policy.
After Congress began its investigation into the FBI, Wray issued a statement last August, saying, “Unfounded attacks on the integrity of the FBI erode respect for the rule of law and are a grave disservice to the men and women who sacrifice so much to protect others.”
Since then, Congress has investigated a range of grievances levied against the agency for allegedly targeting parents at school board meetings, for failing to investigate violence and threats made against pro-life organizations and against Supreme Court justices, and now the alleged coverup of bribes and targeting of political opponents.