Trump aides mock DeSantis' reaction to target letter
Two of Trump's campaign aides mocked GOP rival Ron DeSantis on Twitter after the Florida governor responded to the news of the target letter on Tuesday.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung tweeted, "A disqualifying take from an unserious candidate in the last throes of his failed candidacy."
He was retweeting a short video clip showing DeSantis saying that it was shown that Trump sat in the White House on Jan. 6 and didn't speak out more forcefully against the rioters at the Capitol.
Trump senior adviser Jason Miller also retweeted the video clip and wrote, "Ron DeCheney," clearly referring to former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the vice chair of the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6 insurrection, and a major Trump critic.
Rep. Matt Gaetz says he plans to introduce bill to defund special counsel's investigation
In a podcast episode posted to his account on Rumble, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said that he plans to unveil legislation that would defund the investigation of special counsel Jack Smith, who has already charged Trump in connection with his handling of classified documents.
"The House of Representatives needs to take action to defund this special counsel investigation immediately," Gaetz said.
"They are attacking our democracy and engaging in election interference right now," he continued. "I will be introducing legislation to defund the Jack Smith investigation."
NBC News recently reported that Smith spent more than $5 million in the first four months of both probes. Gaetz's proposal to defund Smith's office would never pass the divided Congress as it would be blocked by Democrats.
Trump lawyers and special counsel to appear in classified document case
Follow coverage of today's hearing in the classified documents case.
DeSantis suggests 'weaponization' of law enforcement is to blame
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump's chief rival in the Republican presidential primary, suggested that the "politicization" of law enforcement institutions caused Trump's latest legal woe.
DeSantis, speaking at a campaign event in West Columbia, S.C., said that law enforcement agencies should file criminal charges only when a defendant “behave[d] criminally,” not “because you may have done something wrong.”
"We look at institutions, unfortunately, like our own FBI and we've seen the politicization of those institutions," DeSantis said, adding that he cannot comment specifically on Trump's statement since he had not seen it yet.
He added that Trump should have responded “more forcefully” to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, but said Trump should not face criminal charges from the special counsel’s investigation.
Trump accuses DOJ of 'election interference' and 'prosecutorial misconduct'
In all caps, Trump attacked what he called "crooked Joe Biden" and "his injustice department" in a post on Truth Social late Tuesday morning.
"Witch hunt!!! Crooked Joe Biden & his injustice department want to indict & arrest his presumed political opponent (me!), who is leading him in the polls in the upcoming presidential election of 2024," he wrote in all capital letters.
"Such a thing has never happened in our country before...and in the middle of the campaign??? Election interference & prosecutorial misconduct!!!"
Two federal law enforcement sources confirm Smith informed Trump he's a target of 2020 election probe
Two federal law enforcement sources confirmed on Tuesday that Smith informed Trump by letter that he is a target of the investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The target letter was sent to Trump’s attorneys over the weekend, the sources said.
They also said that the letter advised Trump that he has the right to appear before the grand jury — standard language for a target letter — and that there is evidence linking him to a crime.
A spokesperson for the Office of Special Counsel declined to comment.
Ramaswamy says 'bad judgement is not a crime,' claims 'pervasive censorship' incited Jan. 6
GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy staged a lukewarm defense of Trump on Tuesday, saying he "would have made very different judgements" than Trump but argued that "bad judgement is not a crime."
“It’s a mistake to say he was responsible for January 6th,” Ramaswamy said in a statement to NBC News.
He claimed that "systematic and pervasive censorship" was the "real cause" of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capital, though he did not cite any evidence to support that claim.
White House not commenting on Trump developments
Neither the White House, Biden campaign nor the Democratic National Committee are commenting on the latest legal developments involving Trump, their chief potential rival.
Biden's silence so far mirrors his quietness on the previous indictments. He previously gave a message to aides and his re-election team that they should avoid talking about Trump's legal issues so it did not appear that Biden was misusing power.
White House spokesperson Ian Sams referred questions to the Justice Department.
Dozens of witnesses have testified before the grand jury
Federal grand jurors probing Trump’s attempts to stop the transfer of presidential power after his 2020 election loss have heard testimony from dozens of witnesses in a wide-ranging investigation that has examined the former president’s conduct spanning the time from before Election Day through the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, an NBC News analysis found.
Reporters and producers regularly camp out in the courthouse lobby, watching the staircase and the elevators, trying to spot witnesses entering the grand jury area. Over the course of several months, the Washington residents sitting on the grand jury have heard testimony from witnesses ranging from little-known campaign aides to Secret Service agents to the former vice president of the United States.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, the highest profile witness to appear before the grand jury, testified in late April after a court order to comply with a subpoena, NBC News reported, just over a month before he announced he was challenging Trump for president in 2024. Two of Pence’s aides who were with him at the Capitol on Jan. 6 also testified before a grand jury last summer, before Smith’s appointment. Pence’s former chief of staff Marc Short appeared in July 2022, according to a source familiar with his testimony, and several news outlets reported that Greg Jacob, Pence’s counsel, testified as well; he declined to comment.