Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who served under former President George W. Bush, wrote a brusque opinion piece for the Washington Post published Tuesday.
He called Republicans' attacks against a supposed rigged and biased Department of Justice troubling and unfounded and urged supporters of former President Donald Trump to "return to our roots as a nation of laws."
Trump last week was indicted on felony charges for working to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol.
The four-count indictment by the DOJ, the third criminal case against Trump, provided deeper insight into a dark moment that has already been the subject of exhaustive federal investigations and captivating public hearings. It chronicles a months-long campaign of lies about the election results and says that, even when those falsehoods resulted in a chaotic insurrection at the Capitol, Trump sought to exploit the violence by pointing to it as a reason to further delay the counting of votes that sealed his defeat.
"To be clear, Aug. 3 was a sobering and singular day for our country," Gonzales wrote of the fourth indictment.
"Trump's obsession with remaining in power at the expense of the constitutional right of American voters to choose our president, which culminated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has been devastating. But the worst may still be ahead if we do not return to our roots as a nation of laws. A recent Vanderbilt Unity Poll shows that 38 percent of Republicans believe they support the Constitution while Democrats do not. Likewise, 33 percent of Democrats believe that they support the Constitution, but Republicans do not.
"These figures send a chill down my spine, suggesting that what is really on trial is the rule of law itself," he added.
Gonzales said Trump's actions since 2016 have "fueled a growing sense among many Americans that our justice system is rigged and biased against him and his supporters" which has led to a "growing distrust of and rage against" the DOJ.
But the department "should be given the chance to present its case, proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt" and "the defendant should then be given the opportunity to rebut the charges and present his defense if he so chooses," he said.
Gonzales also called on the news media to "fully inform the public and rigorously compare and contrast these indictments with past decisions by the Justice Department to decline to prosecute" and on political pundits to "be honest with Americans and to demonstrate that Trump is not being singled out and treated unfairly unless there is clear evidence to believe otherwise."
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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