Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., on Sunday accused the Biden administration's Department of Justice of forcing former President Donald Trump to spend so much money to defend himself against myriad indictments that he can't mount a significant presidential campaign in 2024.
"The DOJ is corrupt, in my view," Donalds told "Sunday Morning Futures' on Fox News. "They are obstructing justice, especially when you look at how they were handling all these dealings with Hunter Biden.
"But to a broader perspective, what the Department of Justice is really doing is they want to bleed Donald Trump dry. They want him to use up so many campaign resources with these terrible, phony indictments that it's going to be hard for him to mount a challenge to the presidency."
On Thursday, Trump pleaded not guilty in Washington, D.C., to a four-count federal indictment regarding his alleged role in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It was the second indictment handed down by grand juries in investigations led by special counsel Jack Smith.
The first was in June and related to Trump's handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Trump pleaded not guilty to the 37 charges in person at his arraignment in Miami that month.
A 42-count superceding indictment was filed last month in the documents case and included charges related to Trump's handling of classified documents at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Trump pleaded not guilty and waived his personal appearance for that arraignment.
Trump also pleaded not guilty in April to a 34-count indictment handed down by a grand jury in an investigation led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat. Those charges are related to hush-money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump also is under investigation in Georgia by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat, over allegations he tried to overturn that state's 2020 election result.
"For the American people, understand what this means," said Donalds, a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability who has endorsed Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. "This means that the Democrat Party and Joe Biden are using the power of government to basically turn the screws on their political opponent.
"That is un-American. That is not what our country should be doing. So for all the accusations against Donald Trump through the years, Joe Biden is doing the thing that they were saying to the American people they were afraid of Donald Trump doing. It is despicable."