Texas Republican leaders are harshly criticizing a New York City grand jury's Thursday indictment of Donald Trump as the former President remains in Florida over the weekend.
Gov. Greg Abbott described the unprecedented indictment of a former president as "an abhorrent abuse of power."
Senator Ted Cruz described the indictment as "catastrophic," and joined Abbott in decrying the "weaponization" of the courts.
At a national level the outcry has been as loud. Former Vice President Mike Pence calls the case an outrage and a political prosecution.
The charges will be formally unsealed at indictment Tuesday afternoon, but the grand jury was considering whether Trump had used campaign funds for a hush-money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal.
The Justice Department had earlier declined to prosecute the case.
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