There is anger in the Republican camp, at least in a large part of it, about the criminal prosecution of Donald Trump. A New York grand jury has decided to indict the former president on charges he paid $130,000 to silence porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before his 2016 election victory.

It is telling that Trump’s former vice president Mike Pence, with which they “were at odds” called the jury’s indictment against Trump “outrageous”.

“I think the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States over a campaign finance issue is outrageous,” he said Thursday night, speaking to CNN.

Mike Pence argued that the indictment appears “to millions of Americans to be nothing more than a political prosecution.”

Pence said prosecuting the former president was a “disservice to the country” that would further divide people.

“I think the American people will see this as yet another example of the criminalization of politics in this country,” he said.

“With… including political persecution”

In an appearance on Fox News, Republican Sen Lindsey Graham called the indictment “legal voodoo” and “f….”

“This is literally legal voodoo, this is political prosecution, this is a combination of political hatred and selective prosecution times three,” Graham said.

“Give the president money to fight these m…,” he said, urging Republican supporters to donate to Trump’s website.

“You must help this man. They are trying to drain him. He spent more money on lawyers than most people spend on campaigns.
They try to dry him out. Donaldjtrump.com, go tonight,” he said.

“We are not going to back down. How does this end? Trump wins in court and wins the election. That’s how this ends,” Graham added, “They’re trying to destroy Donald Trump because they’re afraid of him at the ballot box.”

“internal matter”

The criminal prosecution of former US President Donald Trump is an “internal” matter for the United States, and not one for Russia to comment on, a Kremlin spokesman said Friday. Dmitry Peskov during regular communication with journalists.

“I don’t think that’s an issue for any of our comments. These are internal American processes that we do not consider necessary to comment on in any way,” Peskov said. Vladimir Putin has reportedly endorsed Trump for re-election via social media.