SC lawmakers and GOP hopefuls reactions in light of Trump’s latest indictment

Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott said it’s clear there “are two different tracks of justice” following Tuesday’s announcement of a federal indictment against Donald Trump, the former president who is accused of trying to derail the 2020 election to remain in power.

There is one track “for political opponents and another for the son of the current president,” Scott, a U.S. senator from South Carolina, said via Twitter Tuesday night.

“I remain concerned about the weaponization of Biden’s DOJ and its immense power used against political opponents,” Scott tweeted. “We’re watching Biden’s DOJ continue to hunt Republicans, while protecting Democrats.”

Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury on criminal charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection. The former president faces four criminal charges, including conspiracy to defraud with the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

The indictment reveals details including hand-written notes from former Vice President Mike Pence saying Trump “sought to exploit the violence of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot to remain in office,” the Associated Press reported.

Wednesday morning after a press conference, S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster said he doesn’t “see any substance in any of it.”

“I think the prosecutor is out of line,” McMaster said. “This is a campaign against Donald Trump. I’ve supported him since he began, and I still support him.”

McMaster said he had read some of the indictment.

Trump will speak at the South Carolina Republican Party dinner on Saturday, which McMaster said he is excited for.

Scott has remained relatively quiet on Trump’s previous indictments — related to alleged financial fraud and the handling of classified documents — and has yet to openly criticize the former president, who remains the Republican frontrunner in the 2024 race for the White House.

Meanwhile, former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, a fellow Republican vying for the presidency, has been more vocally critical of Trump in the past. On Thursday afternoon, nearly two days after the indictment charges were released, Haley said, “Unlike the other candidates, I didn’t rush out with a statement yesterday on Trump’s indictment for one simple reason – like most Americans, I’m tired of commenting on every Trump drama. I’ve lost track of whether this indictment is the third or fourth or the fifth,” on Good Morning New Hampshire with Jack Heath.

After 37 federal criminal charges were filed against the former president related to the handling of classified documents, Scott said the indictment was a “serious case with serious allegations.” During a Fox News interview, Scott said, “Voters will decide the next president of the United States. That’s the way it should be. You’re innocent until proven guilty.”

Scott also has focused in on the ability to “restore confidence and integrity to the Department of Justice” if he were elected president.

Haley has been somewhat more pointed in recent comments about Trump’s legal woes. In a Fox News interview June 12, Haley said if the classified document charges are true, “President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security.”

Previously, after Trump was charged on 34 felony counts related to financial crimes in New York, Haley tweeted, “This is not how justice should be pursued in our country. The American people are exhausted by the prosecutorial overreach, double standards, and vendetta politics.It’s time to move beyond the endless drama and distractions.”

Tuesday’s latest charges mark the third indictment the former president is facing as he campaigns for another run for the presidency.

After the charges were announced, the Trump campaign sent out a press release to supporters asserting he “did nothing wrong,” and asking for donations.

“This is nothing but an egregious act of election interference and a final act of desperation from Crooked Joe as he crashes in the polls.” The letter goes on to say, “Their only hope is to try and send me to JAIL for the rest of my life.”

The letter tells supporters that it will not stop at him, but that “the grip will close even tighter around you.”

Trump told ABC news in a phone call that the charges are a “pile on” and called all the recent indictments against him “ridiculous.”

Another Republican presidential competitor, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, also tweeted his reaction to the Tuesday indictment, including saying that if he were elected president, he would replace the FBI director and “ensure a single standard of justice for all Americans.”

“While I’ve seen reports, I have not read the indictment,” DeSantis tweeted. “I do, though, believe we need to enact reforms so that Americans have the right to remove cases from Washington, DC to their home districts. Washington, DC is a ‘swamp’ and it is unfair to have to stand trial before a jury that is reflective of the swamp mentality. One of the reasons our country is in decline is the politicization of the rule of law. No more excuses — I will end the weaponization of the federal government.”

Another GOP candidate, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, has been vocal about his disdain for the former president. He tweeted Tuesday that he has always believed Trump was morally responsible for the “attack on our democracy.”

“[Trump] has misled his supporters. He told them, ‘I’m fighting for you’ and yet he’s really asking them to fight for him by paying his legal fees [for] which he’s used $60 million of campaign funds,” Hutchinson said.

Pence, another 2024 GOP presidential candidate, wrote in a statement posted to Twitter, “Today’s indictment serves as an important reminder: anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States.”

About an hour after the news, the Trump campaign sent out a message encouraging supporters to buy a new “I STAND WITH TRUMP” T-shirt.

This story was originally published August 2, 2023 at 5:00 AM.