Bret Baier: Trump indictment is unprecedented
'Special Report' anchor Bret Baier reflects on the indictment of President Trump over hush money sent to Stormy Daniels on 'The Five.'
Top Republican lawmakers reacted with outrage to the unprecedented indictment of former president Donald Trump on Thursday as part of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office's years-long investigation.
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has been investigating Trump for hush money payments made leading up to the 2016 presidential election.
TRUMP INDICTED AFTER MANHATTAN DA PROBE FOR HUSH MONEY PAYMENTS
Former U.S. President Donald Trump was indicted Thursday by a grand jury. ((Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images))
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., stated in a tweet Thursday, "Alvin Bragg has irreparably damaged our country in an attempt to interfere in our Presidential election."
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"As he routinely frees violent criminals to terrorize the public, he weaponized our sacred system of justice against President Donald Trump. The American people will not tolerate this injustice, and the House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account," McCarthy said.
"Outrageous," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, tweeted on Thursday.
House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital in a statement, "The unprecedented election interference from corrupt Socialist District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a political witch-hunt and a dark day for America. The radical Far Left will stop at nothing to persecute Joe Biden’s chief political opponent ahead of the 2024 presidential election to suppress the will and voice of the American people.
"Tens of millions of patriotic Americans have never been so energized to exercise their constitutional rights to peacefully organize and VOTE at the ballot box to save our great republic by electing President Donald J. Trump in 2024," she said.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., also stated in a tweet Thursday, "The sham New York indictment of President Donald Trump is one of the clearest examples of extremist Democrats weaponizing government to attack their political opponents. Outrageous."
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., tweeted on Thursday: "Today’s political indictment of Former President Trump is a dark day in American history and a threat to our Republic by Alvin Bragg and the Democratic Party machine. It’s unfathomable to me that this could happen in America. This is political persecution that must not stand!"
Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, stated in a tweet "The Democrat Party’s hatred for Donald Trump knows no bounds."
"The ‘substance’ of this political persecution is utter garbage. This is completely unprecedented and is a catastrophic escalation in the weaponization of the justice system," Cruz said.
Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley said Thursday's indictment "isn't about the law. It's about power. Raw power."
"It’s the Democrat Party telling the nation they will stop at nothing to control the outcome of the next presidential election. It is an assault on our democracy, pure and simple," Hawley said in a tweet.
Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the indictment is "one of the most irresponsible decisions in American history by any prosecutor."
"It is irresponsible because the case was looked at by two previous prosecutors and they passed. It has not aged like fine wine," the senator said in a statement.
"The chief witness for prosecution is a convicted felon, Michael Cohen, whose previous lawyer said he is untrustworthy. Upon scrutiny, this case folds like a cheap suit," he continued.
"So how does this end? Trump wins in court and he wins at the ballot box," he added.
Senator Thom Tillis, R-N.C., released a statement saying, "This indictment doesn't pass the smell test."
"The Department of Justice already looked into the facts and decided there was no case to be made against President Trump."
This is the same District Attorney who is notorious for letting violent criminals off the hook in Manhattan, but has been laser-focused on pursuing a politicized prosecution of a former president. Politics should never tip the scales of justice, and Congress has every right to investigate the conduct and decision-making of the Manhattan D.A.’s office."
Freshman Senator J.D. Vance, R-Ohio said in a statement that Trump's indictment is "a political persecution masquerading as law" and a "grave miscarriage of justice."
"Donald Trump is the former President of the United States, the leader of our nation’s political opposition, and the presumptive Republican nominee in 2024. Alvin Bragg’s decision to indict him is blatant election interference and a direct assault on the tens of millions of Americans who support him," Vance said.
"To make matters worse, this entire charade is predicated on an unprecedented, doomed-to-fail legal theory and a baseless misdemeanor charge from seven years ago," he continued.
"While the radical left continues their obsession with harassing Donald Trump, the American people are suffering. Families are struggling to put food on the table, violent crime is running rampant in our cities, and thousands have been poisoned by the fentanyl pouring across our southern border," he said. "Instead of working to improve the lives of the Americans they are supposed to represent, the ruling party is focused on kneecapping their greatest threat in the next election."
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg ((Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images))
Bragg has been investigating the $130,000 hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and the $150,000 payment made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, Fox News Digital has also learned.
Hush money payments made to both McDougal and Daniels were revealed and reported by Fox News in 2018. Those payments had been investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York and by the Federal Election Commission.
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the Stormy Daniels payment in 2019, even as Cohen implicated him as part of his plea deal. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.
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Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing with regard to the payments made to Daniels and McDougal, and has repeatedly said the payments were "not a campaign violation," but rather a "simple private transaction."
Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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