Texas state lawmakers and members of Congress are responding to the arraignment of Donald Trump. The former president pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in New York Tuesday.
Trump then flew to Florida and delivered a speech.
"The criminal is the district attorney because he illegally leaked massive amounts of grand jury information for which he should be prosecuted or, at a minimum, he should resign," he said.
Congressman Marc Veasey (D-Fort Worth) says Trump is violating the judge's order to "refrain from making statements that are likely to incite violence or civil unrest."
"Trump has always been flippant about following the law, so no surprise that he would immediately disobey the judge's rules," Veasey says. "He is going to try and figure out a way so he can exploit this for his gain."
Veasey says Trump's speech shows he is still campaigning for 2024 and will use this case and investigations he tried to overturn election results in Georgia and his handling of classified documents to build support.
"I know a lot of people in the North Texas area who support him, and I don't see that changing," Veasey says. "It kind of reminds me of a comment Trump made that he could walk down the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot people and people would still be supportive of him."
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican, said in his podcast, "I think the entire thing is crap. One of the most important points, and it's one I've made a couple times on this podcast: If this is a crime, if this is a felony that someone should go to jail for, then Hillary Clinton committed the exact same crime."
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, also a Republican, posted on his campaign website, "President Trump guilty for making America great again." His website then lists 34 things Trump is "guilty" of, including "protecting life in the womb," "supporting law enforcement" and "securing the border."
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