A prominent Republican senator blasted the U.S. Department of Justice after it attempted — unsuccessfully — to secure indictments against six sitting Democratic lawmakers who urged members of the military to follow the law and not obey illegal orders.
U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) had “slammed the Justice Department’s push to criminally charge” the six Democrats, Politico reported. All six Democrats had served in the U.S. Armed Forces or the Intelligence Community.
“Political lawfare waged by either side undermines America’s criminal justice system, which is the gold standard of the world,” Senator Tillis wrote on Wednesday. “Thankfully in this instance, a jury saw the attempted indictments for what they really were. Political lawfare is not normal, not acceptable, and needs to stop.”
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Tillis pointed to an NBC News report that stated: “The indictment, pursued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, led by Trump appointee Jeanine Pirro, is the latest example of the Justice Department’s targeting the president’s perceived political opponents.”
Politico reported that the unsuccessful effort to indict “marked another instance of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro failing to clinch a high-profile federal indictment since taking over as the top prosecutor in D.C.”
“President Donald Trump called for the lawmakers to face trial for ‘seditious behavior’ and reshared a post that advocated for hanging the Democrats,” Politico also noted.
But some criticized Tillis’s remark for its “both sides” claim.
“Under one party, an independent Justice Department prosecuted offenders for attempting the violent overthrow of a presidential election and under the other, presidential cronies attempted to indict sitting members of Congress for restating the UCMJ,” wrote Zev Karlin-Neumann, a former speechwriter and senior advisor to former U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken. “But yes, both sides!”
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