Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich spoke to Scripps News about the indictment of former President Donald Trump in Georgia, where he and 18 others are charged with interfering in the 2020 presidential election in the state.
As a supporter of former President Trump, Blagojevich views this moment as perilous.
"I think what we're facing now — these unprecedented charges against the leading candidate or the other party by the prosecutors of another party — It's the greatest constitutional crisis we're facing in the United States since the Civil War," Blagojevich said.
Blagojevich criticized the grand jury proceedings that led up to the indictment, calling them one-sided.
"There's an old saying that I've come to believe, and that is 'These federal prosecutors can indict a ham sandwich if they want.' The grand jury's a one-sided affair," he said. "They don't hear the other side, there's no cross-examination. So the men and women that sit on grand juries did not necessarily make the wrong decision. They were just fed a lot of baloney."
Donald Trump, 18 others indicted in Georgia election case
The indictment charges Trump with racketeering, violating oath of office and other charges.
Donald Trump and his allies have maintained he had a First Amendment right to question the outcome of the presidential vote in 2020.
"The President, Trump, and anybody, has a right to challenge an election result. That's free speech," Blagojevich said. "Just because President Trump could be wrong, that the election wasn't stolen, doesn't make it a crime. What they're doing is they're criminalizing things that are fundamentally protected constitutional rights for political reasons."
But the indictment in Fulton County alleges that together, the statements, writings and actions of Trump and his co-conspirators showed that they "unlawfully conspired and endeavored to conduct and participate in a criminal enterprise."
The defendants have been ordered to turn themselves in for booking in Fulton County Jail no later than noon on August 25th.
Justified or unfair? What Americans think about Trump's indictments
A new poll asks Americans whether they think Trump acted illegally.
