Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) responded on Twitter to an antagonistic statement from Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis about the newly revealed grand jury indictment of Donald Trump in Manhattan on charges related to the falsification of business records.
DeSantis, who remains seen including by Donald himself as a potential challenger to Trump in the GOP presidential primary ahead of 2024, said on Twitter that authorities in Florida wouldn’t help with any extradition request, despite the fact it seems there are Constitutional requirements he do so — and that it’s not even clear such would be in any way relevant, since Trump is set to just submit for processing in the case, with arraignment happening Tuesday. DeSantis, though, used the opportunity to push further vitriol towards financier George Soros, who as a Jewish individual has seen a lot of the Right’s hatred towards those even slightly categorizable as “other.” Soros’s actual connections to the Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg aren’t even clear.
“In a single statement, Ron DeSantis advanced antisemitic lies, attacked the rule of law, and displayed shameless duplicity,” Schiff remarked on Twitter. “This is what it takes to compete in a party that abandoned all principle – save ambition – and scruple. Trump has been indicted. Trumpism presses on.” Why should Trump somehow automatically evade even the possibility of accountability for his behavior? DeSantis’s comments aren’t the only relevant example. GOP leaders in Congress including Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio), who helms the House Judiciary Committee, recently raised the prospect in communications with Bragg’s team of entirely shielding former presidents from prosecutions of the sort Trump is now facing. In reply, a lawyer in Bragg’s office questioned Friday whether they’d even have the Constitutional authority to impose such unilateral protections from consequences for certain individuals. Jordan has been trying to get info from Bragg’s team on the unfolding Trump probe.
In a single statement, Ron DeSantis advanced antisemitic lies, attacked the rule of law, and displayed shameless duplicity.
This is what it takes to compete in a party that abandoned all principle – save ambition – and scruple.
Trump has been indicted.
Trumpism presses on.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) March 31, 2023
The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head.
It is un-American.
The Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney has consistently bent the law to downgrade felonies and to excuse criminal misconduct. Yet, now he is…
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 30, 2023
