Republican Who Voted to Impeach Trump Calls Indictment ‘Weak F***ing Sauce’: ‘We’re Crossing the Rubicon For That?’

Peter Meijer, an ex-Republican congressman who voted to impeach Donald Trump after the January 6 Capitol riot and subsequently lost a primary contest to a Trump-backed opponent, blasted the indictment of Trump by a grand jury in Manhattan on Thursday, describing it as “weak f***ing sauce.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg took over an ongoing investigation into the allegations that Trump had falsified business records to cover up hush money payments he made to porn star Stormy Daniels upon taking office in January 2022. Daniels alleges that Trump slept with her in 2006, the same year of the birth of his only child with wife Melania Trump. On Thursday, it was reported that the grand jury had officially voted to indict him on that charge and that prosecutors were in contact with Trump’s lawyers to negotiate his surrender.

But despite Trump’s unpopularity, polling has unearthed deep-seated skepticism of the case. In a Quinnipiac poll conducted earlier this week, 62% of respondents said they believed the case was politically motivated, even though Trump’s favorability rating is underwater by 22 points (36-58) in the same survey.

Meijer’s reaction, given in an interview with Time, reflected that skepticism.

We’re going to indict a former President for, essentially, misdemeanor falsification of business records?” asked Meijer rhetorically. We’re crossing the Rubicon for that? That seems like f***ing weak sauce.”

The former congressman, who was targeted by Trump and his allies in a 2022 primary challenge that saw him lose the Republican nomination, also worried aloud that Trump would use the indictment to his own political benefit, noting that he had already engendered sympathy even prior to Thursday.

“He is an absolute savant when it comes to getting reactions,” said Meijer. “That’s not a shame on him so much as it’s a shame on the rest of us.”

In a statement issued on Thursday, Trump called the indictment “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”

“Never before in our Nation’s history has this been done,” declared Trump. “The Democrats have cheated countless times over the decades, including spying on my campaign, but weaponizing our justice system to punish a political opponent, who just so happens to be a President of the United States and by far the leading Republican candidate for President, has never happened before. Ever.”