Sen. Marco Rubio on Trump arraignment: ‘we are going to regret this day for a very long time’
Rubio argued the case will give a greenlight to other prosecutors to go after their political opponents
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., took to Twitter on Tuesday to share his thoughts on the arraignment of Donald Trump in New York City, following the former president’s indictment last week.
Rubio called Trump’s indictment and arraignment "a bad day for all of us" whether you like the former president or not.
"Today, American politics crosses a line that it's never going to come back from," Rubio said. "After today, especially on the basis of how ridiculous these charges are."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida and ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, during a hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The indictment surrounds an investigation into hush money payments made to women during Trump’s 2016 campaign. It has remained under seal but will soon be made public.
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Rubio argued that the case will give the green light to every prosecutor in the U.S. – whether Republican or Democrat – to go after someone in the opposing party.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"What's gonna stop them? Nothing's gonna stop them. Because today we set a new normal. Today, we set the new normal that if you really want to take someone down, nothing should stop you," Rubio said. "You should be able to manipulate the law anyway you want to charge someone."
Former U.S. President Donald Trump sits at the defense table with his defense team in a Manhattan court during his arraignment on April 4, 2023, in New York City. (Photo by Seth Wenig-Pool/Getty Images)
Rubio blasted the charges as "absurd," noting that they are built on the testimony of a "convicted liar" – a jab at Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty in 2018 to lying to Congress about plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Rubio called the Trump indictment a "poison" to the U.S. that will "permanently change politics in America forever."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We are going to regret this day for a very long time. We are setting a new normal -- a damaging new normal -- that is going to disfigure American politics and put us on a destructive road," Rubio said. "We are going to regret this day for a very, very long time."
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Trump’s indictment and arraignment have unfolded against the backdrop not only of his third campaign for the White House but also against other investigations in Washington and Atlanta that might yet produce even more charges.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Associated Press contributed to this report.