Jason Smith supportive of Trump over latest indictment

Southeast Missouri congressman Jason Smith remains steadfastly in support of former President Donald Trump despite Trump's third criminal indictment in the past six months.

On Tuesday, Aug. 1, a federal grand jury meeting in Washington, D.C., indicted the nation's 45th president on four felony counts of conspiracy and obstruction related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

In an email to the Southeast Missourian, Smith focused attention on the current occupant of the White House.

"President Biden's Department of Justice allegedly shielded his son from prosecution for cheating the U.S. government out of over a million dollars in taxes on income from China, Ukraine, and other foreign entities. Now, the same DOJ that's trying to give Hunter Biden a slap on the wrist has been weaponized to prosecute President Biden's most likely political opponent in 2024 with over 40 federal felony charges and counting," Smith wrote Wednesday evening, Aug. 2. "This indictment of former President Trump is something that normally occurs in third world countries -- not the United States -- and is nothing more than a distraction from House Republicans' investigations into the Biden family foreign influence peddling scheme and DOJ's efforts to protect Hunter Biden. No wonder the American people feel there is a two-tiered system of justice in Biden's America, and Republicans will continue fighting to hold the Biden Administration accountable."

Smith, 43, an attorney and Salem, Missouri, farmer, has represented 28 southern and Southeast Missouri counties in the state's 8th Congressional District since 2013.

Former president Donald Trump speaks Jan. 6, 2021, during a Washington rally protesting Electoral College certification of Joe Biden as Trump's successor. Southeast Missouri congressman Jason Smith has weighed in on Trump's most recent indictment, this one in connection with the attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.Evan Vucci ~ Associated Press, file

Former president Donald Trump speaks Jan. 6, 2021, during a Washington rally protesting Electoral College certification of Joe Biden as Trump's successor. Southeast Missouri congressman Jason Smith has weighed in on Trump's most recent indictment, this one in connection with the attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.Evan Vucci ~ Associated Press, file

The lawmaker became chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee on Jan. 9.