NC politicians weigh in on former President Trump’s indictment

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - A grand jury has indicted Former President Donald Trump on criminal charges in New York making him the first former president to face criminal charges. The indictment caused political tensions across the country to rise with many in the Republican Party condemning the indictment calling it a political move.

Across the Charlotte region and the state, local and federal officials have weighed in on the news.

“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,” NC Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) said following the announcement.

Related: Trump ‘likely’ to surrender Tuesday following indictment, lawyer says

While Republicans have largely condemned the indictment, Democrats have touted it as proof that the laws apply to everyone.

“’No one is above the law.’ Those words are a promise as old as the United States, and that promise was kept today with the indictment of Donald Trump,” Mecklenburg County Congresswoman Alma Adams (NC-12) said. “Mr. Trump, like every other American, is entitled to due process. That is another core promise of our Constitution. The State of New York has spent years meticulously building their case, and they secured an indictment not from political power brokers or the media, but from a grand jury of ordinary citizens.”

Despite the divide between the two parties Adams said she isn’t celebrating the indictment.

“Make no mistake, this is a sad day for our country. Justice doesn’t celebrate, justice isn’t vengeful, and it doesn’t find joy in accountability. Nevertheless, I am proud of our democracy and our legal system for renewing and refreshing our faith in our system of justice. No one, not even a president, is above the law,” she said.

Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) also weighed in on the move, he too calls the actions of the Manhattan District Attorney a partisan effort.

“The Manhattan DA’s partisan prosecution of President Trump is a disgrace. NYC has a real problem with violent crime. Instead of spending so much time targeting his political enemies, Alvin Bragg should focus on doing his job to keep the people of NYC safe,” Budd said in a Tweet.

In South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said he challenges the ethics of the indictment.

“I do not see anything that is reasonable, anything that is honorable, anything that is legal, or anything that is even ethical about what this prosecutor has done,” he Tweeted.

The indictment wasn’t simply a case that the Attorney General had complete control over, a grand jury heard the evidence presented to them and determined there is enough evidence to bring the charges.

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