Numerous Republicans celebrated Donald Trump's latest legal defeat, according to a new report from The Hill, with one senator saying that the case amounted to "lawfare" that is "not acceptable and needs to stop."
On Tuesday, reports emerged that a grand jury in Washington D.C., had rejected the Trump administration's attempt to indict six Democratic lawmakers on charges relating to a video that reminds military members of their duty to refuse illegal orders, which the president attacked as "seditious" behavior. The failed indictment, hailed as a "remarkable rebuke" by the New York Times, is the latest example in a growing trend of grand juries refusing to indict in cases pursued by Trump's Justice Department.
The video was put together last fall, amid Trump's escalating attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and reports of impending military action in Venezuela. It featured Democratic lawmakers with backgrounds in the military and intelligence agencies, including Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, as well as Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania.
Speaking with The Hill and in posts to social media, several Republican senators further rebuked the Trump administration by celebrating the failed indictment of their colleagues across the aisle.
“Political lawfare waged by either side undermines America’s criminal justice system, which is the gold standard of the world. Thankfully in this instance a jury saw the attempted indictments for what they really were,” Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican and prominent Trump critic, said in a post to social media. “Political lawfare is not normal, not acceptable, and needs to stop."
Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who serves alongside Kelly and Slotkin as the Senate Armed Services Committee Chair, said about the news, “I think the grand jury made the right decision."
“I’m glad that the grand jury came back and rejected indictments but I think it is a very disturbing direction that the administration has taken in basically trying to make criminals out of sitting lawmakers who effectively pointed out what the uniform military code of justice says," Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Republican from Alaska, told The Hill in a statement.
While speaking on the failed indictment, Sen. Chuck Grassley, the longest-serving member of the Senate and current President pro tempore, said that Trump's law enforcement officials ought to be focused on real issues.
"I think that our law enforcement people ought to be spending their time on making our communities safe and going after real lawbreakers," Grassley said.