GOP’s Bacon on Trump indictment: ‘The emperor has no clothes’

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said of former President Trump’s indictment that “the emperor has no clothes” and that Republicans should say so.

Bacon told reporters Tuesday ahead of Trump’s arraignment, in which he pleaded not guilty to the 37 federal charges filed against him, that the former president’s wrongdoing is “obvious” and Republicans must be honest about it.

He said Trump’s conduct in keeping thousands of pieces of secretive information at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida — allegedly showing documents he kept to other people who were not authorized to view them and telling investigators that he returned all the documents they requested when he actually only turned over some of them — is indefensible. 

“I just think the emperor has no clothes, and we need to have Republicans stand up and say that because, come around after the primary, I guarantee you the other party is going to be saying this,” Bacon said. 

Bacon, a moderate Republican who represents a hotly contested swing district in Nebraska, is one of a handful of Republicans who have criticized Trump’s conduct following his indictment. 

Many Republicans have defended Trump and slammed the Justice Department for alleged political motivation in prosecuting the former president, whom they point out is the leading contender for the GOP nomination to oppose President Biden’s reelection. 

That group includes several of Trump’s main opponents for the GOP nomination, including former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Ramaswamy has vowed to pardon Trump if elected president. 

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, two other GOP presidential candidates, have slammed Trump’s actions, with Hutchinson calling on him to drop out of the race. 

Bacon said Republicans refusing to acknowledge the seriousness of the charges Trump faces could cost the party the presidential election in 2024. 

Trump called for a conservative primary challenger to oppose Bacon’s reelection bid during the 2022 midterms last January over Bacon’s support for Biden’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package. Trump initially called for challengers to Bacon and the dozen other Republicans who voted for the bill, but then he specifically singled out Bacon. 

Bacon easily won renomination last year before narrowly winning reelection in November.