Donald Trump’s ruling stirs unrest among Republicans AlMomento.net

WASHINGTON — After a New York jury found former President Donald Trump guilty Thursday of 34 counts of falsifying financial records in an effort to influence the 2016 election, Republican lawmakers were quick to voice their displeasure, almost unanimously questioning the legality of the trial and how it was conducted.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said it was “a shameful day in American history” and the charges were “purely political.” Ohio Senator JD Vance said the verdict was “a disgrace to the justice system.” Louisiana Representative Steve Scalise, the second-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, said the decision was “a failure for Americans who believe in the fundamental legal principle that justice is blind.”

Minutes after the verdict was announced, Republicans who had previously been divided over support for the party’s presumptive presidential nominee found common ground in attacking the judge, jurors and President Joe Biden, even though a verdict had not yet been set on state charges in a Manhattan court. Biden, the nation’s highest-ranking federal official, was not involved in what happened inside the New York City courtroom.

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A jury found that the former president falsified financial records as part of a scheme to influence his presidential election by paying hush money to a porn actress who said she had sex with Trump. Few Republicans have mentioned details of the case, but many have reiterated their repeated claims that it was a “rigged and shameful trial.” Trump is expected to appeal soon.

The intensity of the outrage was noteworthy despite the fact that lawmakers and politicians had previously remained moderate and refrained from criticizing the judge and jury. Only one Republican maintained that stance, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who said before the verdict that people should “respect the decision and the legal process.”

“At this dangerously divisive moment in our history, no leader — regardless of party — should add fuel to the flames of more toxic partisanship,” Hogan, who is seeking a seat in the Maryland Senate, posted before the verdict was read. “We must reaffirm what makes this country great: the rule of law.”

There was no evidence that the trial was rigged. Trump’s legal team complained about Judge Juan Manuel Merchan’s $15 donation to Biden in 2020 and his daughter’s work as a Democratic political consultant. However, the judge rejected a request by the former president’s lawyers to recuse themselves from the case and said he had no doubts about his “ability to be fair and impartial.”

Either way, Republicans seized on Trump’s attacks on judges and the system in the New York trial and three other cases — local and federal charges in Atlanta and Washington for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results, and a federal indictment in Florida for illegally retaining top-secret documents after his term ended. Several Republican lawmakers, including Johnson, went to the New York court to express support.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s staunchest allies, said: “The verdict says more about the system than the charges do.”

The verdict makes Trump the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a serious crime. He spoke out as nearly every Republican member of Congress endorsed his candidacy in this year’s election.

“Congratulations, progressives,” Utah Sen. Mike Lee posted. “They just guaranteed Trump’s election.”