Asa Hutchinson says GOP should ‘back off’ accusations’ of DOJ ‘weaponization’ 

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is running in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, said Republicans should “back off” of “accusations” of the “weaponization of the Justice Department.” 

Hutchinson told ABC on Sunday that while he disagrees with some of the DOJ’s decisions, he believes Republicans are incorrect to label the department’s indictment of former president Donald Trump as “weaponization.” 

“[T]he whole concept that so many Republican leaders are adopting that this is the weaponization of the Justice Department,” Hutchinson said. “And I think they’ve made some bad decisions. I can certainly disagree with many of the decisions they’ve made, particularly Jim Comey and some of his reference to Hillary Clinton. 

“But in terms of the overall charge of weaponization of the Justice Department, look at Donald Trump. He’s already declared that if he’s elected president, he’s gonna appoint a special prosecutor to go after the Biden family. That’s called a weaponization of the Justice Department,” he continued. 

“And so let’s back off of these accusations, and let’s get back to being the party of the rule of law, of the justice system, supporting law enforcement, and the equal application of law. Let’s don’t undermine the greatest justice system and criminal justice system and rule of law in the world today, this side of heaven,” Hutchinson said. 

Trump has been charged with 37 counts by the DOJ regarding his alleged mishandling of classified materials. The former president has pleaded not guilty to the charges and called the investigation a “witch hunt.” 

Hutchinson also said that Trump should drop out of the 2024 GOP presidential race. 

“Whenever you’ve got these serious allegations against you, whenever you’ve got the challenge of multiple different investigations during the course of the next year, it’s not fair to the country and certainly it’s not fair to the party that wants to get this country back on track,” he remarked. 

“So yes, I think that he should drop out,” Hutchinson said of Trump. “Clearly, he’s not going to. This is gonna be decided by the voters, which is the American process, but the American voters are gonna have to decide on the merit of these charges.” 

Republicans have claimed over the years that the DOJ is weaponized. After winning the House of Representatives in the midterm elections last year, the congressional Republicans created the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government in January to investigate the DOJ’s “disparate treatment” in its operations, according to Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). 

The White House has asserted that the DOJ operates independently of the president.