Former House Republican Tears Into Kevin McCarthy For 'Frightening' Trump Defense

Former Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) said House Speaker Kevin McCarthy ’s melodramatic reaction to Donald Trump ’s latest indictment showed the “frightening” lengths Republicans will go to in order to please the former president’s base.

In a press conference ahead of Trump’s arraignment last week, McCarthy, a California Republican, forcefully criticized the move, pointing to Democrats including Hillary Clinton and Al Gore who previously questioned the outcomes of elections they lost. 

“Were any of them prosecuted? Were any of them put in jail?” McCarthy asked. “You shouldn’t be prosecuted for your thoughts.”

Clinton and Gore conceded their elections, and Trump is being prosecuted for much more than thoughts. Last week’s federal indictment accuses him of leading an elaborate conspiracy  to overturn the 2020 election, ultimately leading to a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. 

Sanford called his former colleague’s comments “pure theater” in an interview with CNN  on Thursday.

“They both conceded those elections,” he said, referring to Clinton and Gore. “And to compare that, somehow, with folks storming the Capitol, breaking into a building where I worked for 12 years of my life, is an absurd comparison.”

“But it shows the danger of Donald Trump in my mind, because what it says is somebody as highly elected as Kevin McCarthy will twist himself in knots to stay relevant with the Trump base,” Sanford continued. “And to me, that’s frightening for the way that it undermines the very tenets of open and free elections.”

Sanford served in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001 and again from 2013 to 2019. Between 2003 and 2011, he was governor of South Carolina.

McCarthy’s comments on the Capitol riot have changed dramatically since its immediate aftermath, when he said Trump bore responsibility for the attack by “mob rioters” and called on him to ensure a peaceful transfer of power to President Joe Biden .