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EXCLUSIVE: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Friday criticized the Department of Justice (DOJ) in response to the indictment of former President Donald Trump as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s monthslong investigation into the handling of classified documents by the former president.
McCarthy — who made the remarks while touring a historic Pennsylvania site — heavily criticized the DOJ for using a double standard when it came to Trump and called on federal prosecutors to apply equal justice of the law.
“This will disrupt this nation because it hits the core of equal justice for all, which is not seen today. And we’re not going to stand for it,” McCarthy told Fox News Digital.
“This is a very dark day in America considering what they are trying to indict President Trump on,” McCarthy told Fox News Digital in an interview. “You now have a sitting president in the exact same situation. You have a former first lady, senator, secretary of state, who was in the same situation that nothing has been done about it.”
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An indictment Thursday night listed Trump as a criminal defendant charged with at least seven counts of obstruction of justice, conspiracy and illegal preservation of classified government materials.
“In America, equal justice is part of our greatest strength and today it shows that it is not,” McCarthy said. “But what’s even worse, this is a leading contender to run for office with an administration of a current president who has the exact same documents. Even worse, there are documents that President Biden has that he had when he was a senator.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., addressed the impeachment of former President Trump at an event in Pennsylvania on Friday. (Fox News digital)
McCarthy said that as a member of the Gang of Eight — the group of lawmakers regularly briefed on classified information — he knows he should never remove documents from the sensitive compartmentalised information facility (SCIF) where classified briefings take place. He wondered if Biden senator deleted documents from the SCIF when he was senator.
“I know I was part of the Gang of Eight,” McCarthy told Fox News Digital. “You are not removing any document from the SCIF. How does he even have the option of a Senate document?”
The DOJ has been investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents since the FBI conducted an unprecedented raid on the former president’s private home in August 2022.
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The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) told Congress in February 2022 that Trump brought 15 boxes of presidential records to his personal residence in Florida. NARA recovered the 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago and “identified items marked as classified national security information in the boxes.” The case was referred by NARA to the Department of Justice.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced in November that he would appoint Jack Smith, a career prosecutor, to lead the DOJ investigation of Trump.
Former President Trump and President Joe Biden are under investigation for their handling of classified documents. (Getty Images)
Then, in January, it was revealed that on November 2 of last year, President Biden’s personal attorneys had discovered documents with secret markings at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, which Biden previously used as a personal office. After additional installments were discovered in Biden’s Delaware home, the DOJ appointed Robert Hur, a former U.S. attorney, as special counsel on the case.
The White House noted at the time that Biden cooperated fully with the DOJ’s investigation.
On Friday, McCarthy said he has been in contact with House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, regarding actions they might take to to ensure fairness in business. He also hinted at additional revelations Jordan planned to reveal.
“You have to treat people equally,” McCarthy said. “Which will be very concerning here – I’ve already talked to Chairman Comer and Chairman Jim Jordan about things we can do to ensure equal justice – but there is something interesting in some of our research that we had earlier this week, a pensioner FBI agent who was part of the investigation here.”
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“If you find out, and I think Jim Jordan will bring it out tonight, if you hear some of the things he had said about how this investigation was conducted, you’ll see that this judgment is wrong by this DOJ, that they treated President Trump differently from others, and that it didn’t have to be,” he added.
Fox News Digital Production Assistant Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.
Thomas Catenacci is a political writer for Fox News Digital.
