Dickinson interim President John E. Jones III attends the the inaugural Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Pittsburgh last week, discussing how the judicial system can be improved to address extremism; barriers to bringing hate crime charges; and simple solutions for reform.
Photo credit: Savannah Butler, Savvy Shots Photography
Photo credit: Savannah Butler, Savvy Shots Photography
Dickinson interim President John E. Jones III attends the the inaugural Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Pittsburgh last week, discussing how the judicial system can be improved to address extremism; barriers to bringing hate crime charges; and simple solutions for reform.
Donald Trump faces a four-count criminal indictment for his efforts to remain in the White House despite losing the 2020 presidential election, and that has triggered unsubstantiated allegations from two Pennsylvania Republican congressmen.
Reps. Mike Kelly and Dan Meuser claim the charges from the Justice Department are unfair and politically-motivated.
Both men pushed Trump’s election fraud lie in 2020, voted against certifying Pa.’s electoral votes, and signed onto the Texas lawsuit asking the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate President Biden’s victory.
Kelly accused the Justice Department of unfairly using the legal system against Trump.
“Yet again, the Biden Justice Department is targeting President Trump,” Kelly wrote on the website X — formerly known as Twitter. “Make no mistake – the two-tiered Biden Justice System has been weaponized against Donald Trump. If it wasn’t for a double standard, there would be no standard at all.”
Meuser posted on X an interview he gave to conservative outlet, Newsmax, to voice his concerns about the timing of the indictment.
“This is weaponization of the DOJ against Biden’s leading opponent, particularly when no crime is defined. A double standard in justice is no justice at all,” he wrote.
The four charges leveled against Trump by the Justice Department are:
Dickinson College President John Jones, a Republican former federal judge in Pennsylvania appointed by George W. Bush, cautions against drawing conclusions without solid evidence and emphasizes the importance of relying on the facts to be presented in court.
“It is outrageous to me that before the prosecutor even has the opportunity to present his case, that Republicans are standing up and not only claiming that this is a witch hunt and a persecution, but also that we’ve weaponized somehow the Department of Justice,” he said.
“If [special prosecutor] Jack Smith can prove everything he’s got in that indictment,” he said, “it was nothing short [of] an attempt to thwart the will of the people and impede and obstruct the orderly transfer of power – which has never happened, by the way, in 236 years.”
On his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump said the “Radical Left” is seeking to “criminalize free speech.”
Trump also reposted a video from his former senior policy advisor Stephen Miller who claimed, “[DOJ is] criminalizing free speech, they are criminalizing resistance of the deep state, they are criminalizing questioning of an election result…free speech will not survive if this indictment succeeds.”
In the indictment, Special Counsel Jack Smith recognized Trump’s First Amendment protections.
“[Trump] had a right, like every American, to speak publicly about the election and even to claim, falsely, that there had been outcome-determinative fraud during the election and that he had won.”
However, Smith wrote, “[Trump] also pursued unlawful means of discounting legitimate votes and subverting the election results.”
John Jones said the charges have nothing to do with “free speech.”
“What people are willfully – I think, in many cases – missing in this indictment is that this isn’t a case of former President Trump simply saying that the election was stolen from him. He is acting on something that he knows, it would appear from the indictment, to be false.”
Trump on Thursday pleaded not guilty to the felony charges.
This is the third indictment leveled against Trump this year, and a fourth is expected soon from Georgia.
Read more about this commitment.
Pennsylvania Republican Congressmen Dan Meuser and Mike Kelly both voted against certifying Pennsylvania’s election results for President Biden despite no evidence to support election-fraud claims. The election-fraud lie led to the attack on the Capitol.
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