GOP and GOP voters on trial in Trump case

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And Bill Barr, Trump’s former attorney general and loyal lieutenant while in ofce, strongly dismissed the criticism of the indictment.

“If even half of it is true, then he’s toast. I mean, it’s a very detailed indictment, and it’s very, very damning,” Barr said. “This idea of presenting Trump as a victim here — a victim of a witch hunt — is ridiculous.”

But few other Republicans locally or nationally have defended the indictment or even suggested that people allow the case to work its way through the courts.

This was the course recommended by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefries, the top two

Democrats in Congress who are both from Brooklyn.

“This indictment must now play out through the legal process, without any outside political or ideological interference,” they said. “We encourage Mr. Trump’s supporters and critics alike to let this case proceed peacefully in court.”

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman called the expected indictment of former President Trump on 34 felony counts related to payments to a porn star a “political and malicious prosecution” – fve days before the expected announcement of the charges by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

But Blakeman, who was the Nassau County

Republican Party’s liaison to the 2020 Trump presidential campaign, has said nothing following the indictment brought by a grand jury in South Florida.

We understand that Trump, who despite all his legal woes, maintains a hold on a large part of the Republican Party and is the GOP’s clear leader for the 2024 presidential nomination.

And that opposing Trump carries a signifcant political risk.

But people like Blakeman and D’Esposito are called leaders. So we expect them to lead.

And this is the time that their positive leadership is needed.

The Justice Department weaponization narrative is not only wrong, but it is also dan- gerous and destabilizing to democracy.

Not pursuing the case against Trump would destroy the principle that no one is above the law. It would also invite Biden and any future president to do whatever they wanted with this country’s state secrets. And, for that matter, break any other law.

This country has already endured an armed attack incited by Trump on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 intended to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Now some Trump supporters are calling for the use of violence to halt justice from being done on the documents case.

For this, Republican leaders and voters will have to answer.