House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is vigorously disputing the indictment of former President Donald Trump, asserting that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has treated the former president in a manner inconsistent with the principle of equal justice.
In a press conference, McCarthy voiced his indignation over the indictment, stating, “They treated President Trump differently than they treat others. And it didn’t have to be this way. This is going to disrupt this nation because it goes to the core of equal justice for all, which is not being seen today, and we are not going to stand for it.”
“This is a very dark day in America when you think about what they’re trying to indict President Trump on,” McCarthy told Fox News Digital in an interview. “You’ve got a sitting president right now in the exact same situation. You have a former first lady, senator, secretary of state, that had the same situation that nothing was done to.”
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McCarthy: This is going to disrupt this nation because it goes to the core of equal justice for all which is not being seen today and we are not going to stand for it. pic.twitter.com/B0Z1c81yOn
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 9, 2023
McCarthy, undeterred, remains adamant about fighting the indictment, pledging to utilize all available legal and legislative tools to support former President Trump.
“In America, some of our greatest strength is equal justice, and today it shows that it is not,” said McCarthy. “But what’s even worse upon this — this is a leading contender to run for office with an administration of a current president that has the exact same documents. Even worse from the aspect there are documents that President Biden has that he had when he was a senator.”
“I know from being part of the Gang of Eight,” McCarthy explained to Fox, “you do not remove any documents from the SCIF. How does he even have the possibility of a document from the Senate?” The “Gang of Eight” is a term used to refer to a group of high-ranking members of the United States Congress who are briefed on classified intelligence matters by the executive branch of the government.
From November 2022 to January 2023, a series of classified documents linked to President Joe Biden were found at various locations including the Penn Biden Center and his Delaware homes. The documents, dating back to Biden’s senatorial and vice-presidential periods, contained classified information on Ukraine, Iran, and the UK.
First discovered by Biden’s attorneys on November 2, 2022, they reported them to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), prompting investigations by the FBI and DOJ. Additional classified documents were found in December 2022 and January 2023.
“You’ve got to treat people equally,” McCarthy explained. “What’s going to be very concerning here — I’ve already talked to Chairman Comer and Chairman Jim Jordan of things that we can do to ensure equal justice — but there’s something interesting in some of our investigations we just had earlier this week, a retired FBI agent that was a part of the investigation here.”
The FBI searched Biden’s homes and the University of Delaware but found no more classified documents. U.S. Attorney John R. Lausch Jr. and Special Counsel Robert K. Hur are investigating the “possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents”.
The House Judiciary Committee is also investigating the incident. These events complicated the process of transferring Biden’s documents to NARA, initially stored at a temporary facility before being relocated to the Penn Biden Center.
“When you learn, and I think Jim Jordan is going to bring it out tonight, when you learn of some of the things that he had said of how this investigation was carried out, you’ll see then that this judgment is wrong by this DOJ, that they treated President Trump differently than they treat others, and it didn’t have to be this way,” he finished.
