Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Friday said the charges contained in a 37-count indictment brought by Justice Department (DOJ) special counsel Jack Smith against former President Trump are “quite serious and cannot be casually dismissed.”
Murkowski, who says the Republican Party needs to move past Trump and was one of seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict him on an impeachment charge in 2021, said in a statement that “mishandling classified documents is a federal crime because it can expose national secrets, as well as the sources and methods they were obtained through.”
“The unlawful retention and obstruction of justice related to classified documents are also criminal matters,” she wrote. “Anyone found guilty — whether an analyst, a former president, or another elected or appointed official — should face the same set of consequences.”
The Alaska senator joined Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) in being the only two Republican senators to criticize Trump shortly after news of the indictment broke Thursday evening.
“By all appearances, the Justice Department and special counsel have exercised due care, affording Mr. Trump the time and opportunity to avoid charges that would not generally have been afforded to others,” Romney said, pushing back on criticism from other Republicans who say the DOJ is being driven by politics and unfairly targeting Trump.
“Mr. Trump brought these charges upon himself by not only taking classified documents,” he said in his statement, adding “but by refusing to simply return them when given numerous opportunities to do so.”
FILE – Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, asks a question during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)
Romney continued, calling the allegations “serious” and said, if proven, they “would be consistent with his other actions offensive to the national interest, such as withholding defensive weapons from Ukraine for political reasons and failing to defend the Capitol from violent attack and insurrection.”
The Senate’s top two Republican leaders, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Minority Whip John Thune (S.D.) — who both have made little secret of their desire for the party to move past Trump and find a new nominee for president in 2024 — have stayed quiet about the indictment since it was unveiled.
House Republican leaders, including Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), and other Senate Republicans, however, have slammed the Justice Department for bringing charges against a former president.
“This is going to disrupt the nation because it goes to the core of equal justice for all, which is not being seen today. And we’re not going to stand for it,” McCarthy told Fox News in an interview Friday.
More Trump indictment coverage from The Hill
- What happens next with case, campaign plans
- Democratic lawmakers claim indictment news shows Trump ‘not above the law’
- GOP sees unequal treatment, conflict of interest in Trump indictment
- Trump shakes up legal team after indictment
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told The Daily Signal the indictment will “harm” the country.
He warned the nation is already “dangerously polarized” and said “you are now on top of it are going to pour gasoline with an indictment.”
Rubio also predicted that “a significant plurality of Americans, significant percentage, are going to say, ‘that’s political.’”