WASHINGTON - Donald Trump’s historic arrest on charges related to alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election have outraged some Republican lawmakers in Congress including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

In a news conference hours before Trump's arraignment, McCarthy compared the former president’s false claims of election fraud to claims made by members of the Democratic party in past elections.

“I could say the same thing that Hillary Clinton says about her election that she lost... I can say the same thing about those in the Democratic party from the leadership on down about George Bush not winning, that Al Gore did,” McCarthy said. “But were any of them prosecuted? Were any of them put in jail?”

But the two instances are not the same. While Clinton and Democrat lawmakers have questioned the legitimacy of elections, they never plotted to overthrow one, as Trump is accused to have done. The indictment against Trump details how he knowingly leveraged false election fraud claims to try to alter the 2020 election results.

McCarthy’s remarks contrast with how he felt about Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 attack two years ago. A week after the attack, McCarthy said that Trump bore responsibility and needed to “quell the brewing unrest and ensure President-Elect Joe Biden is able to successfully begin his term.”

“Let’s be clear, Joe Biden will be sworn in as president of the United States in one week because he won the election,” McCarthy said.

Trump's indictment also alleges that...

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