The Alabama Republican Party described the indictment of former U.S. President Donald Trump last week as a possible political vendetta and seemed to suggest that the charges against the former president may be false, according to a statement from the party last Friday.
Hush money payments to an adult film actress in 2016 is the inciting incident for Trump’s indictment. Trump’s arraignment is set for Tuesday, and he is expected to surrender the same day to law enforcement, after which time the exact charges against him will be unsealed, according to the New York Times.
Trump is the first former U.S. president ever to face criminal charges.
“Democrats have a track record of making false accusations to fit their political agenda, and District Attorney Bragg’s past campaign contributions to President Obama, Raphael Warnock, and the DNC make it very hard to trust his political intentions,” the party said in the statement on Friday. “One of the fundamental principles of our country’s legal system is equal justice for all. We hope and pray that justice will be served, and that truth will prevail in this situation.”
The statement from ALGOP further questioned the timing of the indictment and whether it was being used as a “political tool” against Trump.
“The American legal system should never be used as a political tool, or as a way to carry out a political vendetta,” The statement said on Friday. “The timing and clear political motivation of Donald Trump’s indictment bring up some concerning questions.”
The view that the indictment against the former president, who is now the first to ever face criminal charges, is a politically motivated action by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is broadly shared throughout Alabama’s U.S. congressional delegation.
In Montgomery, Alabama Lt Governor Will Ainsworth said in a statement made Friday on Twitter that “the indictments against Trump appear manufactured and political” and that it was an example of liberals “weaponizing our justice system” in an effort to silence conservatives.
“Our founding fathers would be furious at how the system they created is being used,” Ainsworth said on Friday. “Vote Republican to stop them.”
