Iowa Republicans Strangely Quiet After New Trump Indictment

After former President Donald Trump’s latest indictment, Iowa Republicans didn’t seem to have much to say.

Shortly after 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Trump was charged with conspiring to defraud the United States for his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, marking the third time he has been indicted this year.

Except for US Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), who tweeted “Another Biden scandal, another Trump indictment – just like clockwork. We must stop this unAmerican politicization of the judicial system,” it was crickets from Iowa’s most prominent Republicans. Hinson also used that same message to send out a fundraising text message. 

When Trump was indicted on June 9 for allegedly illegally taking classified documents, Gov. Kim Reynolds immediately issued a press release and made social media posts coming to his defense.

“The federal indictment of former President Trump represents a grave warning sign for the state of equal justice and public trust in government institutions in this country,” Reynolds said in a statement.

Reynolds had a similar response to the March 30 state indictment.

“While New York faces an open season for crime, the Manhattan DA is focused on arresting a former president,” her statement said. “This is what an assault on democracy looks like – using government power to go after your political opponents – and it’s coming directly from those who proclaim to ‘defend’ it.”

While it hasn’t quite been 24 hours since the latest indictment dropped, that hasn’t stopped Reynolds or other Republicans from rushing to Trump’s defense in the past. Additionally, Reynolds has updated her social media with posts about recent stops in Sioux City and Monona County since the Trump news broke, but the big elephant in the room is how Reynolds and Trump’s relationship has frayed since June.

On July 10, Trump went after Reynolds on his Truth Social platform because of her decision to stay neutral in the Republican presidential primary and seemingly cozy relationship with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his top challenger in the race.

The attack didn’t go over well with a lot of Iowa Republicans. Former Iowa GOP Co-Chair Dr. Cody Hoefert condemned it as did other prominent elected officials and activists. State Sen. Jeff Reichman (R-Montrose) even switched his endorsement from Trump to DeSantis afterward.

Trump has laid off the attacks on Reynolds (for now), but the damage seems to be done.

Here’s what prominent Iowa Republicans, who have not commented on the Aug. 1 indictment, said about Trump’s March and/or June indictments:

by Ty Rushing
08/02/23

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