Former GOP head trolls members for defending Trump: 'It feeds their base'
The former chairman of the Republican National Committee hit out at party members for backing former President Donald Trump, suggesting they were turning a blind eye to major crimes so they could benefit politically.
Michael Steele told MSNBC’s Yasmin Vossoughian Sunday that the 37-count indictment was not being taken seriously by many in the party.
And he singled out Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the head of the House Judiciary Committee that's looking into "weaponization" of federal law enforcement, for particular criticism.
“It's all politics with Republicans,” he said.
“They're not taking it seriously at this point. No one wants to acknowledge we are in this conversation, we're watching this narrative unfold because of what Donald Trump did. Read the indictment – I guarantee you, those Republicans that you've been focusing on from Lindsey Graham down. If they've read that and they were honest, they could not go on the air and say what they said.”
He said, if they had read it, then they were deliberately ignoring what was in it.
“Or they read it and they just want to continue with the political anti-Biden or anti-deep state narrative, because it feeds their base," he said. "They're fundraising off of this. They're rallying support around Trump, around this.
“I'd like to ask Jim Jordan, what did you think of Bill Barr's comment that Donald Trump was toast? Because the evidence in the indictment was so damning. Bill Barr, you remember him? You know what role he played, going into the Mueller trial?
“...if that guy is looking at this and going this is not good. how can you stand up and make the claim that you are making that this is all political?
“This is the bottom line. it's not all political.”