Bush-appointed judge slams GOP’s ‘spineless support’ of Trump

Former federal judge Michael Luttig took to the pages of The New York Times on Sunday to slam Republicans for their “spineless support” of former President Trump and to lament that the GOP has “convinced Mr. Trump of his political immortality.”

“The former president’s behavior may have invited charges, but the Republicans’ spineless support for the past two years convinced Mr. Trump of his political immortality, giving him the assurance that he could purloin some of the nation’s most sensitive national security secrets upon leaving the White House — and preposterously insist that they were his to do with as he wished — all without facing political consequences,” Luittig wrote in an op-ed.

Luttig, a former judge on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and appointed by President George H. W. Bush, penned the op-ed titled “It’s Not Too Late for the Republican Party.” He argued that now was the party’s last chance to do away with Trump as the leader of the party.

He criticized Republicans for enabling Trump and made the case that Trump was correct in believing that his political party would support him regardless of his behavior.

“Indeed, their fawning support since the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol has given Mr. Trump every reason to believe that he can ride these charges and any others not just to the Republican nomination, but also to the White House in 2024,” Luttig wrote.

“In a word, the Republicans are as responsible as Mr. Trump for this month’s indictment — and will be as responsible for any indictment and prosecution of him for Jan. 6,” Luttig added.

Trump was indicted on 37 federal criminal charges related to his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House. He is accused of willfully retaining national security information, a violation of the Espionage Act, and showing classified documents to civilians who did not have security clearance, as well as making false statements and obstructing a federal investigation when the government sought to get the records back.

Trump was also indicted in New York on charges related to his alleged role in hush money payment involving a porn actress during the 2016 presidential election. Trump also is being investigated by special counsel Jack Smith for his efforts to reverse the results of the 2020 election, which was the basis of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. A Georgia investigation is also in the final stages looking into Trump’s attempts to reverse the results in that state.

Luttig testified before the Jan. 6 committee. He at the time was an informal adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, who cited Luttig’s legal argument in his refusal to comply with Trump’s request to stop Congress’s certification of the Electoral College results. As vice president, Pence oversaw the process.

The Republican-appointed judge argued that supporting Trump to lead the 2024 GOP presidential ticket would be “colossal political miscalculation.”

“The stewards of the Republican Party have become so inured to their putative leader, they have managed to convince themselves that an indicted and perhaps even convicted Donald Trump is their party’s best hope for the future,” Luttig wrote.

“If the indictment of Mr. Trump on Espionage Act charges — not to mention his now almost certain indictment for conspiring to obstruct Congress from certifying Mr. Biden as the president on Jan. 6 — fails to shake the Republican Party from its moribund political senses, then it is beyond saving itself. Nor ought it be saved,” he wrote.