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Trump rivals for 2024 nomination such as Ron DeSantis and Tim Scott among those who defend him against investigation
Good morning, US politics blog readers. Donald Trump is making history again, and not in a good way. Yesterday evening, he announced that he would soon be indicted on federal charges related to the classified documents discovered at his Mar-a-Lago resort last year, the first time in US history a former president has faced such allegations. While the justice department has yet to confirm the charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed late last year to investigate the secret materials matter along with Trump’s involvement in the January 6 insurrection and the overall effort to prevent Joe Biden from taking office, the news has become yet another rallying cry for Republicans – even Trump’s opponents for the party’s 2024 presidential nomination. Florida governor Ron DeSantis vowed to “bring accountability” to the justice department, while senator Tim Scott lamented “a justice system where the scales are weighted”. GOP politicians have generally flocked to defend Trump whenever he faces legal trouble, such as when the Manhattan district attorney separately indicted him in March, and today is no different. We’ll keep you posted on this developing story.
Here’s what else is going on today:
Joe Biden has a long day of travel in North Carolina, which will give the traveling press corps plenty of opportunities to ask him what he thinks of the charges against Trump.
Principal deputy White House press secretary Olivia Dalton will brief reporters around 10.30am eastern time, and you can bet that she, too, will be asked about the indictment.
Matt Gaetz, a prominent Trump ally in the House of Representatives, is the subject of a new investigation by the chamber’s ethics committee, Punchbowl News reports. It’s unclear what matter they are looking into, but earlier this year, Gaetz said the justice department ended a sex trafficking inquiry into him without charges.
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