President Trump tweeted that federal indictments against two Republican congressmen placed the GOP in midterm election jeopardy, the Associated Press reports. Trump again attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions, suggesting that the Justice Department consider politics when making decisions: “Obama era investigations, of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff……” Trump has suggested he views the Justice Department less as a law enforcement agency and more as a department that is supposed to do his personal and political bidding. Still, investigators are not supposed to take into account the political affiliations of the people they investigate.
Trump did not name the Republican congressmen, but he was apparently referring to the first two Republicans to endorse him in the GOP presidential primaries. Rep. Duncan Hunter of California was indicted on charges that included spending campaign funds for personal expenses and Rep. Chris Collins of New York on insider trading. Both have proclaimed their innocence. The Hunter investigation began in June 2016. The indictment into Collins lays out behavior from 2017. He was also under investigation by congressional ethics officials. Hunter has not exited his race, while Collins ended his re-election bid after his indictment. Both seats appear likely to remain in GOP hands. Trump’s tweet drew a scolding from Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), who said, “The United States is not some banana republic with a two-tiered system of justice — one for the majority party and one for the minority party. These two men have been charged with crimes because of evidence, not because of who the President was when the investigations began.”