Ohio Republican Rep. Max Miller on Saturday denounced the indictment against former President Donald Trump, calling it a politically motivated effort by Democrats to deter him from running in the 2024 presidential race.
"He's only going to come out stronger and once again prove and show the American people that double standard [of justice] in real-time," Miller said during an appearance on "Wake up America."
"And that's really what I wanted to express, is that people can take a step back, Republican, Democrat, Independent, throughout our country and inherently know that what they're seeing in front of them is politically motivated, and it is all to stop Donald Trump from running for president again. ...
"If they can do this to him, they can do it to every single one of us. And not only that, did you see Douglass Mackey?" he added, refering to the conviction Friday of a self-styled far-right propagandist from Florida on charges he allegedly conspired to deprive individuals of their right to vote in the 2016 presidential election.
Mackey, 33, of West Palm Beach, Florida, was convicted in Brooklyn federal court before Judge Ann M. Donnelly after a one-week trial. On the internet, he was known as "Ricky Vaughn."
The government alleged that from September 2016 to November 2016, Mackey conspired with several other internet influencers to spread fraudulent messages to Clinton supporters.
Prosecutors told jurors during the trial that Mackey urged supporters of then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to "vote" via text message or social media, knowing that those endorsements were not legally valid votes.
Miller said Mackey's actions mirror those of Kristina Wong, who in 2016 joked that Trump supporters should vote on "Wednesday, Nov. 9." In both cases, the joke was the same: the other party has individuals witless enough to waste their vote.
"He had a MAGA hat as the picture for his Twitter handle, and they're going to throw this young man in prison for up to ten years?" Miller said
"And we talked about a double standard once again within our country — within the justice system — we see that they're not only doing it to President Donald J. Trump, they're doing it to regular civilians on a daily basis."
According to prosecutors, at least 4,900 telephone numbers texted "Hillary" from the meme Mackey provided prior to Election Day 2016. Mackey has since been found guilty.
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