Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio slammed the indictment against former President Trump as "incredibly damaging" to the country Tuesday, calling it a "sad and terrible day" for America as the former president was arraigned on felony charges for his handling of classified documents.
"This is a sad and terrible day, I know there are people in the press that are giddy about it, Democrats and partisans that are giddy about it, but this is really bad for America, this indictment," Rubio told Fox News. "It was a bad decision to bring it. I don’t think it was justified or merited and we are going to pay a terrible price for it."
Trump pleaded not guilty at a Miami federal courthouse Tuesday to 37 federal felony counts related to his alleged refusal to hand over classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s months-long investigation.
ALAN DERSHOWITZ SLAMS TRUMP INDICTMENT, SHARES ONE ‘DAMNING’ PIECE OF EVIDENCE IN DOJ'S CASE
Rubio, who joined "America Reports" moments before the arraignment, heavily criticized the indictment as a political stunt that will have critical ramifications on the country and will undermine trust in its fundamental institutions if they are perceived by the public to be weaponized for political gain.
"It’s incredibly damaging to the country," the Florida lawmaker said. "This is further polarizing us at a time when we need to be united... instead we're focusing on an indictment that has no harm, no victims."
Rubio said that while the indictment suggests a national security risk could have been posed as a result of Trump's storage of classified materials, it does not contain any formal allegation against the former president in that regard. Still, the lawmaker argued, the DOJ chose to move forward with the charges, thereby putting the U.S. on a "really dangerous" trajectory ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
"These documents of this nature don’t belong at Biden’s garage, they don’t belong on Hillary Clinton’s server, they don't belong at Mar-a-Lago, but there’s no allegation here, even if you read the indictment nowhere does it say ‘and as a result the national security of the United States was harmed in this way,’" he said.
HOW THE TRUMP INDICTMENT PUTS OUR COUNTRY ON TRIAL
"You have to weigh that with an indictment that now is going to put our country [an] already divided and polarized country in a really dangerous place," Rubio continued. "Now all of our institutions are being undermined, now this whole country is watching this spectacle play out and it will for the next year and a half, not to mention there are real questions whether the president can get a fair shake here."
Earlier Tuesday, GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy pledged to pardon for Trump if elected to the Oval Office and challenged his opponents to make the same vow.
"You think this ends here?" Rubio asked pointedly. "The next Republican president is going to be under tremendous pressure to bring charges and indict Joe Biden, his family, crackhead son, whoever. The pressure will be extraordinary."
The indictment accused Trump of failing to comply with demands to return classified documents, including plans for a retaliatory attack on an unnamed foreign power. Other documents include defense and weapon capabilities of the U.S. and details of the U.S. nuclear program.
"The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods," the indictment said.
It also accused him of storing the documents in a bathroom and other places at the residence, and of showing off the documents to visitors. In one instance, he is said to have told individuals of a document, "as president, I could have declassified it," and, "Now I can't, you know, but this is still a secret."
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Trump has dismissed the charges as a "political hit job" against him by the Biden Department of Justice and maintains his innocence.
