Republican Utah Sen. Mitt Romney responded on Friday to the indictment charges against former President Donald Trump, saying the beleaguered ex-POTUS brought the charges on himself.
“By all appearances, the Justice Department and special counsel have exercised due care, affording Mr. Trump the time and opportunity to avoid charges that would not generally have been afforded to others,” Romney stated in a June 9 press release.
“Mr. Trump brought these charges upon himself by not only taking classified documents, but by refusing to simply return them when given numerous opportunities to do so,” Romney continued.
My statement on reports of the indictment of former President Trump:https://t.co/delSma7Gj4
— Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) June 9, 2023
While Romney maintained that Trump is “entitled to the presumption of innocence” under the law, he argued that the allegations against the former president, if true, are “serious and if proven, would be consistent with his other actions offensive to the national interest.” (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: ‘Should Be Prosecuted’ – MTG Says Joe Biden Should Serve Jail Time After Reading FBI Doc Relating To Burisma)
Romney went on to explain that the “other actions” relate to the Jan. 6 protest at the Capitol and the allegations that Trump threatened to withhold weapons from Ukraine for “political reasons.” (RELATED: Leaked Tapes Reportedly Show Biden Pressuring Ukrainian President To Fire Prosecutor In Return For $1 Billion)
His statement regarding Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents is much more of a rebuke than the one the Utah senator offered up in January after it was discovered that classified documents were also found at President Joe Biden’s home. Those documents were found in Biden’s garage dating from the time when he served as vice president under then-President Barack Obama.
“I do not think any one of the people that you’re talking about took them with ill intent or with a design to hurt national security. But I do believe that sloppiness looks bad,” Romney told KJZZ News. “Whether it is on the current president, past president, or past vice president. It is just wrong. And it puts our nation, uh, in an embarrassing light.”