Pa. Republicans don’t want to talk about Trump’s newest indictment, while Democrats are quick to seize the moment

Many of Pennsylvania’s elected Republicans have spent the last several years trying to distance themselves from former President Donald Trump.

And they’ve reacted no differently to news that Trump has been indicted again — this time federally, over allegations that he mishandled classified documents.

Of the 17 members of the U.S. House from Pennsylvania — nine Democrats and eight Republicans — only two Republicans came to Trump’s defense. State GOP representatives were similarly quiet about the indictment, which was unsealed Friday afternoon. The state’s GOP party was also mum. That remained the case even after the indictment was unsealed around 2 p.m. Friday.

News of a second indictment comes as Trump has consistently topped a growing field in the GOP presidential primary but has trailed in most head-to-head matchup polls with President Joe Biden. Some Republicans have soured on Trump in the last year, blaming him in part for midterm losses.

“Running out in front to defend Trump has burned a lot of people many times,” said Pennsylvania GOP strategist Chris Nicholas, before the indictment was released. “So I think some folks are like … ‘Not again,’ and there’s also always more to the story.”

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U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, a central Pennsylvania Republican, accused the U.S. Department of Justice of using “a double standard” for Trump and Biden, whose aides reported finding classified documents from his time as vice president at his Delaware home and at his former office at the Penn Biden Center last year. Meuser also referenced unsubstantiated claims of corruption about Biden.

“Biden kept classified documents for decades, and the enormous evidence of foreign payoffs is mounting — yet he goes uncharged,” Meuser tweeted. “Now, he’s weaponized the DOJ against his leading competitor for the presidency. It’s a sad day in America.”

U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, a Western Pennsylvania Republican, echoed Trump’s repeated claims that he is the victim of a long-running conspiracy.

“The Deep State, Democrats, and Mainstream Media have relentlessly attacked President Trump for the past seven years in a disgraceful effort to stonewall his America First agenda and stop him from making America great,” Reschenthaler tweeted. “This time is no different.”

In Harrisburg, Republican leaders were much more quiet.

Asked for comment on Trump’s latest indictment, a spokesperson for Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R., Westmoreland) said Ward is “focused on making sure Pennsylvanians know we have their backs by advancing a budget” ahead of the June 30 budget deadline.

Other top Republican state lawmakers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Lawrence Tabas, chair of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, did not respond when asked about the indictment and any role it might play in elections this year and next. The party issued no statements and did not respond to a request for comment.

The moment is reminiscent of late March, when a New York grand jury indicted Trump on charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Reschenthaler and Meuser were out with early support then, too, but few other Pennsylvania Republicans issued statements.

How the dual indictments affect Trump’s candidacy remains murky. Both allies and critics have said the indictments — unprecedented in American history — could either galvanize Republican voters who see the prosecution as overtly political or offer another reason to those looking for a party reboot to abandon the scandal-prone former president.

Trump is also facing a federal probe of his actions to challenge the 2020 election.

Some of his GOP opponents weighed in.

“The weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeted. “We have for years witnessed an uneven application of the law depending upon political affiliation. Why so zealous in pursuing Trump yet so passive about Hillary [Clinton] or Hunter [Biden]?”

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Pence on Friday morning, in an interview on the Hugh Hewitt radio show hours before the indictment was released, called on the U.S. attorney general to unseal it to determine “whether this is just the latest incident of weaponization and politicization at the Justice Department, or if it’s something different.”

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former federal prosecutor who has signaled he’ll be a more aggressive challenger to Trump, called the facts of the case against Trump “devastating,” on CNN.

“You have a president who, according to the indictment, directed the packing of those boxes in terms of what to take, directed where they should go to Mar-a-lago, directed where they went while they were inside Mar-a-lago…” Christie told Jake Tapper. “The bigger issue for our country is, is this the type of conduct that we want from someone who wants to be president of the United States?”

Pennsylvania’s Democratic lawmakers in Washington and Harrisburg seized the moment to criticize Trump and Republicans who have backed him.

“As Trump’s legal problems get worse, the Republican candidates for President will try to distance themselves,” State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D., Philadelphia) tweeted. “But let’s be very clear. They ALL support his radical MAGA agenda. They ALL defended his criminality until it wasn’t in their self interest.”

U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, a Delaware County Democrat, noted Trump’s second chapter in his criminal troubles while calling him “disgraced and twice-impeached” in a tweet. Scanlon also knocked House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, for criticizing the indictment.

“The Speaker calls the indictments unconscionable — what is unconscionable is the alleged criminal conduct,” Scanlon tweeted.