Pa. Republicans don’t want to talk about Trump. It was business as usual in Harrisburg as he was arraigned on federal charges in Florida.
State House lawmakers don’t want to discuss Trump, a political fire starter who once pressured them to overturn the Pennsylvania election.
HARRISBURG — Former President Donald Trump’s arraignment was everywhere in the news on Tuesday. But you wouldn’t know it from the Pennsylvania Capitol.
Trump was arrested in Miami on federal charges for allegedly withholding confidential documents and 36 related counts. He’s the first former president to be indicted, and as the 2024 front-runner, he remains the de facto leader of the Republican Party.
» READ MORE: Trump pleads not guilty to federal charges that he illegally kept classified documents
But in Harrisburg, House lawmakers were focused on completing the state budget, which they must approve by June 30. They didn’t want to talk about Trump, a political fire starter who once successfully pushed some state lawmakers to help him try to overturn Pennsylvania’s 2020 election results. That pressure translated to more than 60 House and Senate Republicans signing a letter to Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation, asking them to reject the state’s electors.
Many Republicans in Pennsylvania politics have spent the last few years distancing themselves from Trump, and his federal indictment was the last thing GOP lawmakers working on the budget wanted to talk about.
State Rep. Russ Diamond (R., Lebanon) understands that many of his colleagues don’t want to talk about the former president.
“Most Republicans, and in the general public, there is a ‘we love him, we hate him’ element about the former president,” he said. “Whenever you have anything like that, some people are hesitant to go one way or the other. It’s always tough with a person who the sentiment for is so strong either way.”
» READ MORE: Chris Christie calls Trump a ‘child,’ taking his political jabs further than other GOP presidential contenders
Trump’s federal case now presents Republican elected officials with another tricky dance going into 2024: Should they bet on Trump, who lost Pennsylvania in 2020? Or should they set themselves apart, in hope of regaining power?
State House Republicans lost control of that chamber by one seat in the 2022 election, with some GOP members blaming Trump’s shadow over the ticket.
For now, many Republicans are staying mum. Of a half-dozen House Republicans whom The Inquirer tried to speak with Wednesday, only Diamond would talk about Trump and his latest indictment. (The state Senate returns to Harrisburg next week.)
He said it “sure looks like they’re going after [Trump]” more than other politicians who may have kept confidential documents.
Diamond admitted, however, he hadn’t read Trump’s charging documents yet.
Trump is accused of illegally keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after the National Archives sought their return, and of trying to hide them from federal investigators. Biden aides reported finding classified documents at his former Penn Biden Center office and his Delaware home. His lawyers say they have cooperated with the Department of Justice’s investigation and returned all of the documents.
Diamond also said he’s not sure whether Trump is the leader of the Republican Party right now. Trump remains the front-runner for the Republican nomination for president, and the nominee is the assumed leader of the party.
“That remains to be seen. No votes have been taken yet,” Diamond said, noting the growing field of GOP contenders vying to challenge Trump.
As for whom he’ll support in the Republican primary: “I’m for anybody who can win,” he said.
“For me, personally with Trump, it has always been, what did he accomplish as president, rather than what kind of guy I might think he is,” Diamond said. “In some respects, and I don’t mind saying this, sometimes he can come off as a jerk. But in some cases, sometimes we kind of needed a jerk to actually get something accomplished when he was president.”
Other House Republicans were much less willing to share their feelings about Trump, including those who once signed the letter to Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation asking them to reject the electors.
Rep. Martina White, the only Republican in Philadelphia’s delegation to Harrisburg, declined to comment. She and 54 other state House Republicans signed onto the 2020 letter.
The leaders of Pennsylvania’s Freedom Caucus — Reps. Dawn Keefer (R., York) and David Rowe (R., Union) — didn’t respond to an Inquirer request for comment last week when Trump was indicted. The two Republicans lead the Pennsylvania version of what’s considered the most conservative bloc of the U.S. House.
Even Rep. Stephanie Borowicz, a far-right Republican from rural Clinton County, didn’t want to talk about Trump.
Republican leaders didn’t want to discuss Trump, either.
House Minority Leader Bryan Cutler (R., Lancaster) said he hadn’t yet read the indictment, which was unsealed Friday, but was willing to read it.
And Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) told reporters on Monday that he didn’t have any thoughts on the former president’s latest indictment.
“My thoughts are right here in the Capitol,” Pittman said. “My job is to take care of the budget that’s due in two weeks. I’ll let the federal issues to those in federal office.”