“An all-out assault on the rule of law” is how one former high-ranking Justice Department official described President Donald Trump’s latest attack on the department in which he blasted Attorney General Jeff Sessions over the criminal indictments of two politically-loyal Republican congressmen.
Appearing to express dismay on Monday at the investigations which brought about charges against two of his most loyal supporters in Congress, Reps. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), Trump suggested that allowing Hunter and Collins to run for their Republican seats in the upcoming midterm elections without informing the public of the charges would be preferable to following the rule of law, and sarcastically slammed Sessions for potentially harming the GOP’s control over Congress.
The president’s statement was denounced as “shameless” by former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, who previously stood up to Trump by refusing to enforce his Muslim ban, while former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called it clear proof of Trump’s “contempt for the rule of law.”
Trump’s complaint came weeks after Collins, the first member of Congress to endorse his presidential run in 2015, was indicted on charges of insider trading. Hunter, also an early and vocal supporter of the president, was accused of misusing $250,000 of campaign funds in late August.
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