Former Rep. Mark Sanford (RS.C.) said House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s melodramatic reaction to Donald Trump’s latest indictment showed the “terrifying” lengths Republicans will go to in order to appease the former president’s base.

in Press Conference Before Trump was grilled last week, McCarthy, a California Republican, sharply criticized the move, pointing to Democrats including Hillary Clinton and Al Gore who had previously questioned the election results they lost.

Have any of them been prosecuted? Have any of them been put in jail? McCarthy asked. “You shouldn’t be sued for your ideas.”

Clinton and Gore have conceded their election, and Trump is on trial for far more reasons than just reasoning. A federal indictment released last week accuses him of leading an elaborate plot to overturn the 2020 election, which ultimately led to a violent insurrection at the US Capitol.

Sanford called his former classmate’s comments “pure theatre” at V.I CNN interview Thursday.

“They both gave up that election,” he said, referring to Clinton and Gore. “And to compare that, in a way, with people storming the Capitol, storming a building where I worked for 12 years of my life, is a ridiculous comparison.”

“But it shows the danger of Donald Trump in my mind,” Sanford continued, “because what you’re saying is that someone as highly elected as Kevin McCarthy is going to wrap himself in knots to stay connected to Trump’s base.” “And to me, this is frightening for the way it undermines the principles of open and free elections.”

Sanford served in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001 and again from 2013 to 2019. Between 2003 and 2011, he was the governor of South Carolina.

McCarthy’s comments about the Capitol riot have changed dramatically since its immediate aftermath, when he said Trump bore responsibility for the “mob rioters” attack and called on him to ensure a peaceful transfer of power to President Joe Biden.