News of former President Donald Trump’s indictment by the New York County Democrat District Attorney Alvin Bragg spread quickly Thursday night. Reaction came from a variety of sources, some outraged and some excited by the news from New York.
Interestingly, in Georgia, so far at least it looks like a number of prominent statewide officials are staying out of it. It being the day after Sine Die in the legislature means many officials in Georgia were in the middle of their first break from politics in more than 3 months. Georgia Democrats are also in a tricky position of still being in a largely Republican state and working to make gains, which may mean putting their heads down in a position like this and focusing on staying positive, rather than inviting negative reaction. For example, both of Georgia’s Democrat senators are still trying to find ways of expressing their bipartisan abilities and inviting attention on something they ultimately have nothing to do with.
Several of Georgia’s congressional delegation did weigh in however, none more fervently than Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-GA.
The news reached Greene in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where Greene was getting prepared for a Lincoln’s Day address to a local Republican group. “I’m honored to give a Lincoln’s Day Address in Gettysburg tonight. The irony of standing on the battleground when I found out President Trump has been indicted is profound,” said Rep. Greene. “My President is innocent and the only one standing in the way of these modern day tyrants, just like our founding fathers did, to protect each of us from evil.”
Rep. Mike Collins, R-GA, also put out a strong statement, calling the indictment political in nature and warning of what it means for the country.
“America should be the last place on Earth allowing political prosecutions, yet here we are. From J6 defendants to our former president, the weaponization of our justice system by the radical left is destroying our country,” said Collins. “With this witch hunt, Alvin Bragg is betraying the trust of all Americans while failing to do his job of protecting New Yorkers from violent criminals. This is a disgrace.”
Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-GA, took a similar stance on the political nature of the indictment.
“Indicting a former President is a threshold that’s never been crossed in our nation’s history and it shouldn’t have been crossed here,” said Rep. Loudermilk.
Searching for Georgia Democrats’ reaction mostly came up empty by midnight on Thursday but former state senator and last year’s Attorney General nominee (and possibly future offices) for the Democrats Jen Jordan simply said “Fanni Willis is up next” and linked to the story of the indictment from the New York Times.
Eyes will stay on New York until Tuesday when former President Trump is scheduled to attend a hearing, but after that, Atlanta will be the focus.
