Senate Democrats fear that former President Trump’s conviction on 34 criminal charges could result in another spasm of violence after the 2024 elections if Trump continues to condemn what he calls the “weaponization” of the criminal justice system and then loses to President Biden in November.
They are voicing these fears amid growing anxiety that Trump’s July 11 criminal sentencing in the hush money trial will further disrupt the electoral landscape. Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records to hide secret payments to an adult film star with whom he allegedly had an affair.
Trump has repeatedly raised doubts about the fairness of the elections, and Democratic lawmakers following his trial in New York fear that Trump will use any ruling to further inflame his loyal supporters.
“It’s not clear if we would lose the election in November if he would peacefully say to his supporters, ‘Well, it was a great battle, but we just couldn’t get it done,’” said Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.). “If you want to worry about hypotheticals.”
“He is not making the kind of overtures to his voters that suggest he will go gently into that good night,” he said.
Hickenlooper said he assumes Trump will be able to delay implementation of any sentence while he appeals the conviction to higher courts in the coming months.
A Democratic senator who requested anonymity to comment on the nervousness of fellow senators said political violence now seems inevitable.
The lawmaker said Democrats fear Trump will incite his supporters to unrest regardless of whether he receives parole or prison time.
“For the long-term good of the country, he needs to be treated like anyone else and then we will deal with it because we will have his violence no matter what,” the senator said, noting that Trump supporters have already tried to “doxing” the jurors.
“We will have to deal with violence sooner or later,” predicted the senator.
The senator highlighted that Trump repeatedly violated Judge Juan Merchan’s gag order and that the judge’s decision not to punish Trump with prison time for contempt of court only seemed to embolden the former president.
“He has eight, ten contempt violations. He felt no remorse,” said the senator. “A normal person who repeatedly violated an order would be in jail for a few days, and he wasn’t.”
Trump attacked Merchan as a “devil” and “highly confrontational” and criticized the Manhattan criminal court as a “kangaroo court” bent on derailing his presidential campaign.
Some of Trump’s supporters attempted to reveal the identities and home addresses of the jurors who voted to convict him and posted violent rhetoric online directed at Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Some of the threatening messages were posted on the same forums used by Trump supporters to organize their Jan. 6, 2021, march on Washington, according to NBC News.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who faces a tough re-election race, warned that “there will certainly be some angry people in Montana” if Trump is sentenced to prison or home confinement, even though he is expected to remain free during his term. mandate. appeal.
Asked about the potential for political violence after the election, Tester noted that “there are two people in prison right now who have threatened to kill me.”
Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), who last week left the Democratic Party to become an independent, said any sentence given to Trump would further divide the country.
“You can have a negative reaction in both, whether it’s a blue state or a red state, very harsh or very soft,” he said.
Manchin said he would accept the outcome but that some in West Virginia might react differently.
“My state is very supportive of former President Donald Trump and they will be upset if it is a very harsh statement or a harsh sentence, and there will be people in other states who will be upset if it is lenient,” he said.
Manchin said voters “should decide” Trump’s fate and no attempt should be made to stop him from campaigning.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) argued that Merchan needs to give Trump the same sentence he would give anyone else convicted of political crimes.
“The idea that it is extraordinary to adhere to the basic principle that no one is above the law shows the extent to which this man has thrown American principles overboard,” he said. “There is nothing destabilizing about saying, ‘If you do something illegal, you will be subject to punishment.’
But Schatz said he is also concerned about the prospect of political violence if Trump loses the campaign, given how much he has incited his supporters against what he says is political persecution.
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said there could be a strong backlash if Trump receives a harsh sentence in Manhattan.
“Everything that happened to this former president is unpleasant. So we’ll see. I think there will be concerns,” she said of a possible backlash. “But one thing is that, in my opinion, the jury system worked.”
Last week, Trump accused Biden of orchestrating his conviction, although there is no evidence to suggest Biden’s involvement in Bragg’s decision to begin the process of silencing him.
“This is all done by Biden and his people,” Trump said at a news conference after the jury delivered its verdict. “This is done by Washington. Nobody has ever seen anything like this.”
Some of Trump’s closest allies on Capitol Hill echoed his rhetoric, pointing to former Justice Department official Matthew Colangelo’s role on Bragg’s prosecution team.
National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines (Mont.) called Colangelo’s involvement in the case a clear sign of behind-the-scenes political maneuvering to convict Trump.
“We should not allow a kangaroo court in New York to interfere in this election, as President Biden, his former DOJ official, is doing,” he said. “He left the DOJ and then became a prosecutor in New York.
“It seems very suspicious to me,” he added. “Joe Biden is involved in this too.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
