A close Donald Trump ally has unleashed fury and labeled the US a “rogue state” in an explosive interview with the BBC after the former president was criminally charged in his third indictment.
Trump, 76, was hit with charges of plotting to overturn his 2020 election defeat in a bombshell indictment unsealed on Tuesday.
Sebastian Gorka, his former Deputy Assistant, is seething at the US Department of Justice (DOJ) for slapping Trump with fresh charges.
He told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme: “[It’s] Infuriating, an outrage, it’s proof positive that America has sadly become a banana republic to see Biden’s Department of Justice once more bring federal charges against the leader of the opposition who is 20 to 40 points before any other candidate for the presidency, the man most capable of replacing Joe Biden. It’s just a rogue state – a deep state out of control.”
The charges stem from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
It accuses him of four counts, including conspiracy to defraud the US, tampering with a witness and conspiracy against the rights of citizens.
Referring to the charges, Gorka said: “It’s all garbage – the whole thing could be thrown out of court. When they played the video I was there, I was literally in the front row 20 feet away from the president.”
The indictment was especially stunning in its allegations that a former president assaulted the underpinnings of democracy in a frantic and ultimately failed effort to cling to power.
Trump is the only defendant charged in the indictment, but it cites six unnamed co-conspirators, including an attorney allegedly “willing to spread knowingly false claims and pursue strategies” that Trump’s 2020 campaign attorneys would not.
According to Renato Mariotti, a trial attorney, the charges could be incredibly damaging Trump and may even land him with jail time.
He told the BBC: “Donald Trump is potentially facing a stiff sentence here. He could face more years in prison than he has left in his life.”
Trump is appearing before a magistrate judge in a US District Court in Washington DC on Thursday.
The case has been assigned to US District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who appointed by former president Barack Obama.
According to Mariotti, Chutkan is known for giving “tough” sentences relating to January 6.
He said: “And so we do have a job who was appointed by Barack Obama and is known for being a tough sentencer on January 6 issues. In other words, many of the insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol have been indicted on much more mundane charges by the US Justice Department, and this judge has sentenced them very severely.”
Trump’s allies have repeatedly claimed that the DOJ is launching a “witch hunt” against the former president as the Republican frontrunner has various cases hanging over his head.
Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., wrote on Twitter: “When you drain the swamp, the swamp fights back. Trump did nothing wrong!”
In his own words, Trump labeled the case “yet another Fake Indictment of your favorite President, me”.
He continued in his post on Truth Social: “Why didn’t they do this 2.5 years ago? Why did they wait so long? Because they wanted to put it right in the middle of my campaign. Prosecutorial Misconduct!”
The indictment comes as the former president campaigns for the Republican party leadership ahead of the 2024 elections and remains ahead in the polls.
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