OPINION: This article contains commentary which may reflect the author’s opinion
Republican lawmakers have warned that legal action against former President Donald Trump could turn into a political battle, saying there is a long road ahead for Attorney General Merrick Garland to act on a criminal referral expected from a House panel on Jan. 6.
Experts believe the evidence gathered by House investigators would provide strong impetus for prosecutors to act in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in a court filing made public last week.
Republicans theorize that any federal prosecution of Trump would boost Trump’s popularity within the GOP and turn the prosecution into a partisan battle as President Biden tries to fulfill his 2020 campaign promise to unite the country.
A criminal referral from the House, according to Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind. ), “would probably have as much political taint on it as you can get.”
“To me, it’s clearly politically driven,” he added.
According to Braun, federal prosecution of Donald Trump would be viewed as partisan in light of Biden’s declining job approval ratings and Democrats scrambling to change the political narrative.
“At least half the country would say it’s all politically motivated,” he stated.
Republican Senator Thom Tillis (N.C.) said “the Department of Justice has a high bar” to clear before an investigation into Trump could be launched. Tillis also expressed concerns about partisanship surrounding the commission’s formation on Jan. 6.
Pelosi blocked House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) appointment of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) to the J6 committee.
She instead appointed two Republicans who are outspoken critics of Trump’s election fraud claims, Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).
“I don’t mind looking into the events but I think that Speaker Pelosi did not do the process justice by the way the members were ultimately seated,” Tillis asserted. “It’s going to be perceived as political.”
“Everybody is going to perceive the referral as a conviction on one side and they’re going to view it as the continuation of a witch hunt on the other side,” he continued. “The bar that the House committee has is far lower than anything that would ultimately result in moving forward with a federal investigation and a conviction.”
Conservative strategists say there will be an epic battle if the Justice Department indicts Trump.
“I think it could backfire in a way that they have no clue,” argued Republican surveyor Jim McLaughlin. “I think it’s going to backfire because it’s just so political and it’s tainted.”
“The country wants to move on. Nobody is proud of what happened on Jan. 6 but people are like, ‘With all the problems we have going on in the country right now, this is going to be the focus of the Democrats?’ ”
Senate Judiciary Committee member Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close ally of Trump and the committee’s ranking Republican member, said Thursday that the House select committee’s recommendation to prosecute would lack credibility.
“I don’t see anything coming out of this committee not tainted by politics,” he remarked.
It is likely that a federal investigation of Trump will stir up a major political storm, which will serve as a powerful disincentive for the Justice Department to move forward if the committee recommends prosecuting Trump.
Following his victory in the 2020 election, Biden told advisers that he wanted investigations of Trump to remain separate from his presidency, five people familiar with the conversation told NBC News at the time.
In a filing made in a California federal court on Jan. 6, lawyers for the panel sought to obtain conservative lawyer and Trump adviser John Eastman’s emails. This is widely anticipated to lead to a criminal referral by the Justice Department in the coming months.
In their report, the lawyers said the committee had “a good-faith basis for concluding that the president and members of his campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States” by disrupting the tallying of electoral votes during the joint session last year.
Although Senate Democrats voted for Trump’s conviction last year on inciting the Jan. 6 violence, they’ve avoided giving the appearance Garland is being pressured to press charges. According to them, Garland is the only person who can decide.
There are some Democratic senators who privately suggest that Garland needs to win any case he brings against Trump. As a result, they are concerned the former president may view the acquittal as vindication, as he did after former special counsel Robert Mueller decided not to bring charges following an investigation into allegations of collusion between Russian officials and the Trump campaign in 2016.
The possibility of a prosecution, according to Republican strategist Ford O’Connell, “will only make Trump stronger with the GOP primary voters.”
“If your goal is to make sure Donald Trump is the nominee in 2024 for the Republicans, then, by all means, proceed with this. You’re just going to make him stronger,” he declared.
Source: The Republic Brief