Former President Trump’s Republican allies are taking to the airwaves to double down on their attacks on the judicial system and condemn those who say people should respect the judicial system that handed down its guilty verdict in the Hush Money trial in New York .
The Republican Party has long called itself the party of “law and order,” which promotes the justice system and defends the need to respect the rule of law.
But while Trump criticized the verdict as the result of a “rigged and shameful trial,” his allies in Congress also railed against it.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called the case a “weaponization of our justice system,” while possible vice presidential nominee Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) said it was a “complete farce that makes a mockery of our justice system.”
Other Republicans who broke with Trump criticized their party for betraying what they consider to be its foundations.
“Watching my party – the party of law and order – absolutely turn the guns on the jury, on the judge, on the system. And it’s not just crazy people. It’s people like Marco Rubio and [Sen.] Lindsey Graham [S.C.]. This party has lost all ability to think for itself,” said Adam Kinzinger, a former Illinois representative who served on the January 6 committee, during an appearance on CNN Friday morning.
New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s team successfully convinced the New York jury to unanimously convict the former president on each of the 34 charges presented.
The 12 jurors spent relatively little time weighing the allegations, returning a quick ruling that concluded Trump had violated the law by falsifying business records to hide secret payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
“A panel of citizens, of American citizens, chosen by both the prosecutor and the defense…heard the evidence and found him guilty,” Kinzinger said.
Trump allies who verbally attacked the decision signaled they would go further.
Rubio and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who is also considered a vice presidential candidate, signed a letter with six other lawmakers pledging to withhold confirmation of any new judicial nominees, blaming the White House for doing “ a mockery of the rule of law.” They also said they would vote against any quick consideration of Democratic legislation unrelated to public safety.
For Democrats and a small group of Republicans, the system worked as intended with Trump’s New York verdict.
“The jury system is an essential democratic practice and institution because it is a microcosm of the people, and what you get are people of common sense who are willing to accept all the facts from all sides, people who are willing to participate in this justice system that includes the presumption of innocence, that includes the defendant’s right to testify or not testify – as Donald Trump chose to do – and were willing to apply the law to the facts. For me, it was a beautiful thing to watch,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who served on the Jan. 6 committee.
GOP lawmakers have been laying the groundwork to discredit the case since before the charges were even filed, with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) demanding to hear from Bragg before Trump was indicted.
Some Republicans have focused on comments Bragg did while running for office, noting his experience investigating the Trump Foundation, but the prosecutor never committed to prosecuting Trump, instead saying he would follow the facts when reviewing the work done by his predecessor.
Others have similarly focused on small donations made by the judge overseeing the case, Juan Merchan, including $15 to Biden’s 2020 campaign. The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct rejected an ethics complaint related to the donations, and a separate judicial ethics panel said that you wouldn’t have to refuse about the subject.
Many comments made after the verdict mirror those some Republicans have been making for months and come after allies also trashed the case on the courthouse steps as the trial took place.
“These MAGA acolytes also came to New York to wage information warfare and discredit the judge and the democratic justice system that dared to try to hold their idol accountable for his crimes,” said Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on authoritarianism at New York University. York. wrote Thursday.
“Republicans have been on a broader crusade to delegitimize democratic institutions, turning the public against the courts, judges, the press and politicians who defend the rule of law, truth and accountability.”
With attacks seeming inevitable, John Bolton, Trump’s rejected national security adviser, warned of the danger of undermining the system.
“It is dangerous to question the integrity of our entire legal system,” he said on social platform even before the verdict was announced.
“Our enemies in Moscow and Beijing believe that anything that undermines America’s general faith in the Constitution weakens the United States. The loss of faith in our Judiciary is a victory for our enemies.”
The few Republicans who defended the verdict were quickly attacked by other members of the party.
“Regardless of the outcome, I ask all Americans to respect the verdict and the legal process,” said Larry Hogan (R), former Maryland governor and Senate candidate. wrote on X before the verdict is read.
“At this dangerously divided moment in our history, all leaders – regardless of party – must not add fuel to the fire with more toxic partisanship. We must reaffirm what made this nation great: the rule of law.”
Trump adviser Chris LaCivita immediately responded: “You just ended your campaign.”
Kinzinger said two years ago that such a statement “would have been the response of any Republican in office or candidate for office in any judicial proceeding.” He also noted that the failure of Hogan’s campaign could cost Republicans the Senate.
College Republicans made a similar plea to Hogan to accept the verdict.
“Today’s convictions are the result of a politically motivated process, but the verdict was handed down by jurors whose decisions were made in accordance with our criminal justice system. As such, the result of this trial must be respected”, stated the organization. wrote on X.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla), who previously called the verdict “the corrupt result of a corrupt trial, a corrupt judge and a corrupt prosecutor,” criticized the group for taking a “horribly bad approach.”
“The verdict must be condemned as a stain on our nation and our judicial system,” he said in response.
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said little about the trial in a statement about Xnoting Trump’s right to appeal, but she was one of the few sitting lawmakers to degenerate Trump and the way his “legal drama” overshadowed the campaign.
“A Republican candidate without this baggage would have a clear path to victory,” she wrote on Friday.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
