A throughline is reportedly developing in the reaction of Republican lawmakers to the controversies piling up around President Donald Trump.
The president and his legal team have reportedly asked the Department of Justice for $230 million to settle damage claims related to his past federal prosecutions, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) pleaded ignorance, as usual, and other Republicans agreed he had every right to expect taxpayer restitution, reported NBC News.
“What happened in the last four years with the weaponization of the Justice Department has to not only end, but never, ever happen again,” said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO). “Never happen again, and for that, there needs to be accountability.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) conceded he had "optics concerns" about Trump's move, while Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said any potential restitution should be "handled via the courts" – but both of those GOP lawmakers are retiring at the end of their terms, and other Republicans told MSNBC they tended to refrain from criticizing the president unless an issue affected their voters back home.
“I decide based on what I hear from my constituents,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY).
Lummis was among many GOP lawmakers who claims they "never heard about" Trump's demand for $230 million from their constituents, and Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) said he and other Republicans “look through the lenses of our state" – in his case, hurricane recovery in western North Carolina – before criticizing the president.
“I want to make sure that those he’s appointed to his cabinet are actually doing that,” Budd said.
But Democrats told MSNBC that their Republican colleagues are simply afraid of going against Trump.
“Trump’s wrath if they cross him badly, and their own voters who are rightfully pissed off right now over the Argentina bailout,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA). “That’s why they’re mostly silent, and when they do speak out, it’s on something like Argentina where their base is leaving them no choice, and where Trump probably won’t end their careers over just this one thing.”