Former Arkansas Governor and GOP presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson has called on fellow Republicans to ease off their claims that the Department of Justice has been unfairly weaponized against former President Donald Trump.
In an interview on ABC News’s “This Week” with host Jonathan Karl, Hutchinson expressed concern that such accusations undermine the integrity of law enforcement in the United States.
Asa Hutchinson calls on his fellow Republicans to “back off” allegations that the DOJ has been "weaponized."
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Instead, he argued that Trump’s promise to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Biden family was the real instance of weaponizing the DOJ.
“In terms of the overall charge of weaponization of the Justice Department, look at Donald Trump. He’s already declared that he- if he’s elected president, he’s gonna appoint a special prosecutor to go after the Biden family. That’s called a weaponization of the Justice Department,” he stated.
Urging the Republican Party to prioritize the “rule of law,” Hutchinson stated, “Let’s don’t undermine the greatest justice system and criminal justice system and rule of law in the world today, this side of heaven.”
During the interview, Hutchinson reiterated his call for Trump to withdraw from the race, emphasizing that the GOP forerunner should prioritize the well-being of the presidency and the country over his personal interests.
“Whenever you’ve got these serious allegations against you, whenever you’ve got the challenge of multiple different investigations during the course of the next year, it’s not fair to the country and certainly it’s not fair to the party that wants to get this country back on track,” he stated.
The accusations of weaponization of the DOJ have become more pronounced among Republicans in recent years, especially in relation to Trump. His indictment in the classified documents case led by special prosecutor Jack Smith, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, further fueled these claims.
Since the FBI’s raid of his Mar a Lago home, Republicans have pointed out the disparity in the FBI’s handling of the former president’s case and its attitude to similar errors made by President Biden and former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.
In response, House Republicans formed the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government in January, aiming to investigate potential disparate treatment by the DOJ.
Highlighting the DOJ’s actions against President Trump as a catalyst for the panel’s establishment, Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) stated, “Clinton mishandles classified information, Biden mishandles classified information, and they get treated a certain way. Then, of course, President Trump gets his home raided 91 days before this midterm election.”
