Dozens of House Republicans

rally

Unpleasant

Donald

Trump’s defense Friday, a day after he

became the first former president in US history to face criminal charges and after weeks of

controversial letters exchanged between Capitol Hill and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

News of the indictment came in

leave

Thursday, as members of Congress headed to their home states and districts to usher in a two-week hiatus.

Trump faces

allegations related to an alleged payment of hush money to porn

actor Stormy Daniels created by Michael Cohen, the former president’s attorney, as the 2016 campaign drew to a close.

House Republicans quickly emerged as a key political line of defense for Trump,

WHO

is expected to be settled Tuesday, according to news reports.

They have tried to portray

Manhattan Dist. considerate Alvin Bragg as a far-left Democrat who

has been

soft on crime in his state

while chasing

an unprecedented prosecution of a former president.

GOP members have repeatedly characterized the charge as

a politicized effort to prevent Trump from outfoxing President Biden in 2024.

“They’re terrified they can’t legitimately beat Trump,” said Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) tweeted Friday morning. “So they’re desperately trying to abuse and misapply the law again. This is a dark moment in American history, but we’re not going to let them get away with it.”

Early Friday, the pro-Trump Make America Great Again PAC circulated an email highlighting “reactions from prominent Republicans and conservatives to Thursday’s impeachment news.” Of the 53 statements listed, a majority of 27 quoted House Republicans. Republicans in the House outnumbered Senate Republicans and GOP governors,

other

the House Republican conference is also where Trump has the most influence

he stays

a

honored

figure

in most GOP members’ districts.

According to CNNTrump

called

members Thursday night “to bolster support.”

Hi

spent much of Friday promoting his defenders’ televised hits on his social media platform, Truth Social.

A Times analysis of Twitter posts found that at least 56 House Republicans tweeted or retweeted a combination of support for Trump and criticism of Bragg between midnight and 6 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s statement Thursday that the former president “the right to a trial to prove innocence” instead of the presumption of “innocent until proven guilty” as well

promote

of interviews on conservative networks

search like

Fox News and Newsmax.

In addition to publishing the vigorous defense of his allies and surrogates,

Trump defended himself on Truth Social

making unfounded claims about his charges

.

“They have scrutinized 11,000,000 pages of documents, financial records and tax returns (some obtained illegally!), billions of dollars worth of deals and transactions, and they have nothing,” Trump wrote in all caps.

note to agency: We can capitalize this if needed. It’s just really hard on the eyes.

“After 8 years of various politically motivated investigations, hoaxes, scams and witch hunts, this has got to make me the most honest and honorable man in the world. No one in history has faced the scrutiny I have. Make America Great Again!!!”

Back on Twitter, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and the panel he chairs, the House Judiciary Committee, are among Trump’s most prominent

and vocal advocates

. Jordan responds to Pelosi’s statement about Trump’s right to prove his innocence tweeted that “it’s scary” Democrats think that way and

tried to portray Bragg as a partisan selectively targeting Republicans,

to ask or

the prosecutor

was “investigating Hunter Biden’s art sales and business records in New York City”.

The committee tweeted: “

Record crime. Record prices for groceries. Register illegal immigration.

What are Joe Biden’s Democratic friends focused on? designating President Trump.”

Other House Republicans argued that targeting Trump was just the beginning, with at least a few members comparing America to China or Russia.

“Vladimir Putin has nothing on Alvin Bragg,” Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) said.

although

the charge

not

probably

Unpleasant

be unsealed until Tuesday, Rep. Mike D. Rogers (R-Ala.)

called it

“nothing more than a fraught attempt by the far left to weaponize the American justice system and do Joe Biden’s political dirty work in the courtroom.”

Hi

added that Bragg “should stop mocking the” Constitution and “resign immediately”.

The Times contacted nearly a dozen Republicans on the judiciary and oversight committees. Most firms did not respond to a request for comment.

When prompted for comment,

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)

who pledged on her personal Twitter account on Friday to “protest the unconstitutional WITCH HUNT” in New York on Tuesday

told The Times through a spokesman that Bragg “

made a very dangerous and, in my opinion, unlawful error.”

“Ultimately he will be the one who looks like a fool because President Trump will be able to beat this charge in court,” she said. “It’s easy to get a grand jury to issue an indictment, but it’s quite another to get a guilty verdict in court that Bragg won’t get.”

In a six-page document Friday morning, Bragg’s office told Presidents Jordan

of the Legal Committee

Bryan Steep (R-Wis.)

of the House Committee

and James Comer (R-Ky.)

of the Supervisory Committee

That

the

New York

high jury

“probable cause found to accuse Mr. Trump of committing crimes”

and noticed

that the former president

is

right to a fair trial.

“What neither Mr. Trump nor Congress should do is interfere with the normal course of business in New York State,” wrote General Counsel Leslie Dubeck.

of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office

.

E

earlier this month

Jordan, Steil and Comer’s Committees

requested communications and documents from

of the prosecutor

office, as well as a transcribed interview with Bragg. The committees repeated their requests last week.

In Friday’s response, Dubeck argued that the first letter

of the committee chairs

“made an unprecedented request” for confidential information, while the second “claims that, by not providing [that information], the prosecutor has somehow failed to dispute your baseless and inflammatory allegations that our investigation is politically motivated. That conclusion is misleading and worthless.”

Dubeck’s letter concludes by writing, “We trust that you will try in good faith to reach a negotiated settlement before taking the unprecedented and unconstitutional step of serving a subpoena with a prosecutor for information regarding an ongoing criminal prosecution by the state.”

the

Commission

s not

respond to requests for comment

from The Times. But

on Thursday

the House Judiciary GOP Twitter account

quote-tweeted a message from a Fox News congressional reporter who said, citing House

Republican

sources

That

the congressional committee chairmen investigating Bragg “will step back until [Trump] is controlled.”

“Fake news”, the committee

‘s account

said.