Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky is among the many Republicans who has been attacking the Biden Administration and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in response to the 37-count federal criminal indictment that former President Donald Trump is facing. Massie claims that the indictment is politically motivated, but Trump’s critics — including special counsel Jack Smith — have maintained that the indictment is about national security, not politics.
Trump is accused of mishandling government documents he was storing at his Mar-a-Lago compound in Palm Beach, Florida, and 31 of the 37 counts are for alleged violations of the Espionage Act. The former president has insisted that all the documents at Mar-a-Lago were “declassified,” but Smith disagrees and alleges that Trump endangered national security by moving documents with classified, top-secret information to Mar-a-Lago — documents that, according to Smith, should have remained in Washington, D.C. when Trump left the White House on January 20, 2021.
On Monday, June 12, Massie claimed that the U.S. Constitution allows members of Congress to read “aloud” any of the documents in question.
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The Tea Party Republican tweeted, “For what it’s worth, under the Constitution, no member of Congress can be prosecuted for reading aloud on the floor any of the documents Trump allegedly has copies of.”
In response to that tweet, Democratic activist Kim Harris posted, “Go ahead, try it, Mr. Massie. @TheJusticeDept @DOJPH @FBI.” And Susan Vermazen, a former photo editor for New York Magazine and Rolling Stone, tweeted, “So you are on the KGB/Mafiya payroll too? The Saudis send you money?”
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