Fleischman said in an interview that he found Duncan Hunter’s actions galling, particularly his attempt to cloak personal expenses as donations to wounded veterans. Fleischman said that “the system worked — he was convicted. He was given a sentence.”

He also said that Trump “set the standard that there’s a different set of justice for the friends of the president than there is for everyone else.”

Other loyal Republicans who have supported the president went public with their anger. Former state GOP Chair Ron Nehring lambasted the Duncan Hunter decision.

“Our elected officials should be held to a higher, not lower, standard than the average citizen, who would never have been pardoned for similar crimes,” he said.