国会山的共和党总统候选人和立法者基本上都支持前总统唐纳德·特朗普星期二，当他被告知是特别检察官杰克·史密斯的调查目标努力推翻2020年选举.
这封目标信件表明，特朗普已经面临纽约州对他在2016年竞选期间向一名色情明星支付封口费的指控，以及他在离任后处理机密文件的联邦起诉，他可能会第三次被起诉-这对任何现任或前任总统来说都是前所未有的。
尽管目前尚不清楚特朗普可能被指控的具体罪名，而且他坚决否认有不当行为，并在佛罗里达州和纽约州辩称无罪，但共和党人周二为他辩护称，他是联邦执法的受害者。
司法部长梅里克·加兰(Merrick Garland)此前为监督司法部调查特朗普的独立检察官史密斯辩护，称他是一名致力于“诚信”的“老兵”。
没有出现政治化的具体证据。即便如此，这已经成为特朗普案件批评者的一个关键话题。
佛罗里达州共和党州长。罗恩·德桑蒂斯被认为是特朗普最强有力的初选对手的特朗普周二在新闻发布会上告诉美国广播公司新闻的雷切尔·斯科特，随着2021年1月6日起义的展开，前总统“应该更有力地站出来”，但对执法部门提出了更尖锐的批评。
“刑事指控不仅仅是因为你可能做了错事。你有犯罪行为吗?我认为我们在这个国家看到的是试图将政治犯罪化，试图将差异犯罪化。所以，我不知道这是怎么回事，”德桑蒂斯说。
前副总统迈克·彭斯周二晚上在新闻国家的“伊莉莎白·巴尔加斯报道”上发表了他的第一反应，继续谴责1月6日的事件，同时小心翼翼地避免疏远特朗普的基础。
彭斯称前特朗普1月6日的话是“鲁莽的”，并重复了他的标准说法，即“特朗普是错误的”和“历史将让他为自己的行为负责”，彭斯表示，他的行为不应导致刑事指控。
“关于起诉的前景，我希望不会到那一步。我不相信总统听从一群古怪律师的坏建议，在1月6日前进入白宫，实际上是犯罪，”他说。
科技企业家兼共和党初选人Vivek Ramaswamy在自己的一份声明中也声称，党派偏见在起作用，并称“1月6日对特朗普的起诉可能是我们宪政共和国最危险的。”
国会山的一些共和党议员发出了类似的声音。
“如果你最近注意到，特朗普总统在民调中上升，实际上正在超越拜登总统竞选连任，”加利福尼亚州众议院议长凯文·麦卡锡告诉记者，但没有具体说明他指的是哪些民调。“那他们现在做什么?把政府武装起来，去对付他们的头号敌人。”
“乔·拜登(Joe Biden)腐败的司法部对特朗普总统进行的这场可耻的政治迫害，只是极左翼对他们主要政治对手的司法系统进行非美国化武器化的最新一章，”众议院共和党会议主席、纽约众议员埃莉斯·斯特凡尼克(Elise Stefanik)在一份声明中说。
佛罗里达州众议员拜伦·唐纳兹说:“没有比在法律的庇护下，以正义的名义犯下的暴政更大的了。”
特朗普还得到了支持他复出的主要超级政治行动委员会的支持。
“这是对选举的干涉。...幸运的是，特朗普总统不会退缩。“他将重返白宫，他将让我们热爱的国家恢复伟大，”让美国再次伟大公司发言人卡罗琳·莱维特在一份声明中说。
民意调查显示，根据五点三十八分在两次弹劾后，特朗普在共和党总统初选中的支持度实际上有所上升，这位前总统目前领先德桑蒂斯近30个百分点。
特朗普还吹嘘第二季度的筹款数字强劲，表明他的竞选活动没有失去党内基础的财政支持。(他的竞选团队周二在目标信件的消息曝光后发出了一封筹款邮件。)
然而，更广泛地说，许多选民表示，特朗普的法律纠纷对他来说是个问题。
例如，在他在佛罗里达州被联邦起诉后，48%的美国人说特朗普应该被指控犯罪，而35%的人说他不应该被指控，17%的人说他们不知道ABC新闻/益普索调查找到了。46%的人当时表示，特朗普应该暂停竞选白宫，而38%的人表示不应该，16%的人不知道。
周二右翼的支持反应反映了一种趋势，即在这位前总统迄今受到两次起诉后，共和党内许多人都为他辩护，只有一些人对针对他的指控的严重性表示担忧。
“两件事可以同时为真。第一，DOJ和联邦调查局已经失去了美国人民的信任。...前南卡罗莱纳州共和党州长妮基·黑利在6月份表示:“如果(佛罗里达州的)起诉书是真的，如果它所说的是真的，那么第二件事也可能是真的，特朗普总统对我们的国家安全非常鲁莽。”。
海莉周二选择忽略目标信件，而是寻求专注于自己的竞选活动。
“这次初选的其余部分将与川普有关，将与诉讼有关，将与法律费用有关，将与法官有关，并将继续进一步分散注意力，”哈利在福克斯新闻频道说。“这就是我跑步的原因。因为我们需要一个新的一代领袖。我们不能一直应付这出戏。我们不能一直处理消极的事情。”
一些共和党领导人支持对2021年骚乱的调查，参议院共和党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)表示。，在2021年说“这是一个可怕的事件，我认为他们正在寻找的是公众需要知道的东西，”指的是当时选定的众议院委员会调查叛乱。
在国会大厦遇袭后不久，麦康奈尔在2021年2月的一次演讲中说，“特朗普总统仍然需要为他作为普通公民在任期间所做的一切负责。他还没有逃脱任何惩罚。”
这位肯塔基州人尚未对新的目标信发表评论，他在投票支持特朗普在第二次弹劾审判中无罪释放后指责特朗普。“弹劾从来就不是美国司法的最终论坛，”这位立法者当时说。
然而，周二，很少有共和党人直接与特朗普交锋，让长期领先的总统候选人成为批评初选领先者的最大声音。
前阿肯色州州长阿萨·哈钦森(Asa Hutchinson)正在共和党初选现场后面进行民意调查，并一直批评特朗普，他对特朗普试图推翻2020年大选和煽动2021年1月6日起义的努力进行了全力谴责。
“我从一开始就说过，唐纳德·特朗普1月6日的行为应该剥夺他再次担任总统的资格。作为一名前联邦检察官，我理解大陪审团调查的严重性，以及成为这种调查的目标意味着什么，”哈钦森在一份声明中说。
特朗普的另一位批评者、共和党提名的长期候选人、德克萨斯州共和党前众议员威尔·赫德(Will Hurd)对此表示赞同。
“1月6日是民主黑暗的一天。赫德在一条推文中写道:“特朗普当时的不作为，现在又成为调查的目标，证明他不适合执政。”"我们的国家需要将宪法和美国人民放在首位的领导人."
Republicans on campaign trail, Capitol Hill seek to dismiss seriousness of Trump target letter
Republican candidates for president and lawmakers on Capitol Hill largely fell in line, again, behind former President Donald Trump on Tuesday after he was informed that he is a target in special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The target letter indicates that Trump, who is already facing New York state charges over hush money payments to a porn star during his 2016 campaign and a federal indictment in Florida over his handling of classified documents after leaving office, will likely be indicted for a third time -- which is unprecedented for any current or former president.
While it is not yet clear what specific charges Trump could be accused of, and he has adamantly denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty in Florida and New York, Republicans on Tuesday defended him as being victimized by federal law enforcement.
Attorney General Merrick Garland previously defended Smith, the independent prosecutor overseeing the Department of Justice investigations of Trump, as a "veteran" committed to "integrity."
No specific evidence of politicization has emerged. Even so, it has become a key talking point among critics of the cases against Trump.
Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, considered Trump's strongest primary rival, told ABC News' Rachel Scott at a news conference on Tuesday that the former president "should have come out more forcefully" as the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection unfolded but directed sharper criticism at law enforcement.
"Criminal charges is not just because you may have done something wrong. It's -- did you behave criminally? And I think what we've seen in this country is an attempt to criminalize politics and to try to criminalize differences. So, I don't know what was all about that," DeSantis said.
Former Vice President Mike Pence offered his first reaction Tuesday night on NewsNation's "Elizabeth Vargas Reports," continuing to condemn the events of Jan. 6 while being careful not to alienate Trump's base.
After calling former Trump's words on Jan. 6 "reckless" and repeating his standard lines that "Trump was wrong" and "history will hold him to account for his actions," Pence said his conduct shouldn't result in criminal charges.
"With regard to the prospect of an indictment, I hope it doesn't come to that. I'm not convinced that the president acting on the bad advice of, of a group of crank lawyers that came in into White House in the days before January 6, is actually criminal," he said.
Tech entrepreneur and GOP primary Vivek Ramaswamy, in a statement of his own, also claimed partisanship is at work and called "the pending Jan 6 indictment of Trump is arguably the most dangerous of all to our Constitutional Republic."
Some GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill sounded similar notes.
"If you notice recently, President Trump went up in the polls and was actually surpassing President Biden for reelection," House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California told reporters, without specifying to which polls he was referring. "So what do they do now? Weaponize government to go after their No. 1 opponent."
"This shameful witch hunt against President Trump by Joe Biden's corrupt Department of Justice is just the latest chilling chapter in the Far Left's unAmerican weaponization of the justice system against their leading political opponent," New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, chair of the House GOP Conference, said in a statement.
"There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice," said Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla.
Trump also got backup from the main super PAC supporting his comeback bid.
"This is election interference. ... Fortunately, President Trump will not back down. He will be back in the White House and he will restore greatness to our beloved nation," Make America Great Again Inc. spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
What polls show is that, according to FiveThirtyEight, Trump's support in the GOP presidential primary actually rose after his two impeachments, with the former president currently boasting a nearly 30-point lead over DeSantis.
Trump has also boasted strong second-quarter fundraising numbers, suggesting his campaign isn't losing financial support from his party's base. (His campaign sent out a fundraising email Tuesday after news of the target letter broke.)
More broadly, however, many voters have said Trump's legal troubles are a problem for him.
For example, in the wake of his federal indictment in Florida, 48% percent of Americans said Trump should have been charged with crimes, while 35% said he should not have been and 17% said they didn't know, an ABC News/Ipsos survey found. And 46% said then that Trump should suspend his bid for the White House, while 38% said he should not and 16% didn't know.
Tuesday's supportive reactions on the right reflect a trend as many figures in the Republican Party defended the former president after his two indictments so far, with only some voicing concerns about the seriousness of the allegations against him.
"Two things can be true at the same time. One, the DOJ and FBI have lost all credibility with the American people. ... The second thing can also be true if this indictment [in Florida] is true, if what it says is actually the case, President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security," former South Carolina GOP Gov. Nikki Haley said in June.
Haley on Tuesday chose to ignore the target letter, instead seeking to focus on her own campaign.
"The rest of this primary election is going to be in reference to Trump, is going to be about lawsuits, is going to be about legal fees, it's going to be about judges and it's going to continue to be a further and further distraction," Haley said on Fox News. "And that is why I am running. It's because we need a new generational leader. We can't keep dealing with this drama. We can't keep dealing with the negativity."
Some Republican leaders have supported investigations into the 2021 riot, with Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, Ky., saying in 2021 that "it was a horrendous event, and I think what they are seeking to find out is something the public needs to know," referencing the then-select House committee probing the insurrection.
McConnell, in a floor speech in February 2021, soon after the Capitol attack, said, "President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office as an ordinary citizen. He didn't get away with anything yet."
The Kentuckian, who has not yet commented on the new target letter, rebuked Trump after voting to acquit him in his second impeachment trial. "Impeachment was never meant to be the final forum for American justice," the lawmaker said then.
On Tuesday, though, few Republicans directly took on Trump, leaving longshot presidential candidates as the loudest voices criticizing the primary frontrunner.
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is polling at the back of the GOP primary field and who has consistently criticized Trump, came out with full-throated condemnation of Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and incitement of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
"I have said from the beginning that Donald Trump's actions on January 6 should disqualify him from ever being President again. As a former federal prosecutor, I understand the severity of Grand Jury investigations and what it means to be targeted by such an investigation," Hutchinson said in a statement.
Former Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, another Trump critic and long shot candidate for the GOP nomination, echoed that.
"Jan. 6 was a dark day for democracy. Trump's inaction then, and now being a target in the investigation, proves he's not fit for office," Hurd wrote in a tweet. "Our country deserves leaders who will put the Constitution and the American people above all else."
