House Republican leaders sharply criticized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) regarding his office’s potential prosecution of former President Trump. However, several prominent Republicans refused to back the House GOP majority in their efforts.
In particular, many conservatives point to donations to Bragg’s political campaign by wealthy left-wing billionaire George Soros. For many in the House, the investigation is seen as a political prosecution of a former president.
However, not all Republicans agreed.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) attacked the Republican House leadership rather than the Manhattan prosecutor.
Cornyn made his comments to Politico, saying that he hoped that House Republicans would “stick to the agenda they ran on.” He also broke with some conservatives on aid for Ukraine during its war with Russia.
He also said that “there’s more than enough to do.”
Cornyn was not the only high-profile Republican that criticized the House leadership’s actions.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said that the House Republicans should not become involved in the “legal process” and asked about the investigation itself.
Sen. John Thune (R-SD) was also dismissive of the efforts to back the former president. Thune said that he would not involve himself in efforts in the other chamber of Congress, saying, “I try to stay out of talking about the House.”
The muted statements by several Republican senators were in contrast with efforts in the House to criticize Bragg and issue potential legal checks to Bragg’s investigation.
House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said that the pending indictment was “political vengeance against President Trump.” He also called Bragg’s actions an “outrageous abuse of power.”
The Republican House leader said that he would direct House committees to “immediately investigate” if federal funds were being used for what he termed as “politically motivated prosecutions.”
Cornyn has represented Texas in the Senate since 2002 and is up for reelection if he chooses to run in 2026. Cornyn was booed by Texas Republicans in 2022 following his efforts to negotiate with Democrats on gun control issues.
Cornyn received significant pushback for his comments, including regarding what author Sean Davis called “20-year legacy of failure.”
I’ll be on @TuckerCarlson tonight to talk about @JohnCornyn’s 20-year legacy of failure in the Senate and how the Biden-McConnell-Cornyn foreign policy has only empowered China (the McConnell family’s gravy train) while making America less safe. https://t.co/uwRQmVpWYi
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) March 22, 2023
