On Thursday, a Manhattan jury made history by convicting Donald Trump of 34 crimes. They include how he paid a porn star to keep serene just before the 2016 election, and his actions cast doubt on Trump’s legitimacy during his one term as president.
Even though Trump is now a felon, he is the GOP nominee for the third time. Most of Ohio’s Republican Party leaders reacted with outrage to his verdict, the governor had little to say, and the state’s only Democrat said the jury had spoken.
Senator J.D. Vance is on Trump’s shortlist for vice president, and he has called Trump’s impeachment political and said many other things on the radio. WX Thursday Vance falsely accused the Democratic Party of inventing a crime solely to prosecute Trump, and addressed a conspiracy theory in which anti-Semitic overtones.
“This decision is a disgrace to the rule of law and our constitution.” Vance wrote. “Dems invented a crime to ‘get Trump’ with the help of a Soros-funded prosecutor and a Biden donor judge who rigged the entire case to get that result.” This is not justice, this is election interference.”
In fact, the jury found, it was Trump who interfered in the election. Legal experts noted that Trump’s lawyers helped select the jury, called witnesses and had input on jury instructions. Trump himself could have taken the witness stand, but chose not to.
At the White House on Friday, President Joe Biden criticized Trump supporters for claiming that the justice system was rigged against Trump, without providing any specific evidence.
“It is reckless, dangerous and irresponsible for anyone to claim this was rigged just because they don’t like the verdict,” Biden said.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a likely contender for the 2026 GOP gubernatorial nomination, also sharply criticized the proceedings that resulted in Trump’s conviction.
“This judgment will probably be overturned. This is not the first unjust verdict and that’s why we have appeals courts.” he said in X. “The aptly named (Manhattan District Attorney) Alvin Bragg singled out his defendant and campaigned for his impeachment – disgraceful and unethical behavior that tarnished the administration of justice.”
As for the appellate courts, Yost had his own difficulties. On Wednesday, a panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Yost did blocking incorrectly collecting signatures for a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would limit the state’s immunity from lawsuits. On Thursday, Yost said he would ask the full court to rule.
Some AG critics accuse him of procrastination.
He declined to approve a summary of ballot language whose supporters want to collect 420,000 verified signatures from registered voters in time for the measure to be placed on the November ballot. Yost is refuses to answer questions about a similar maneuver in 2019 that helped thwart a voter-initiated repeal that sparked the largest corruption scandal in Ohio history.
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted will likely compete with Yost for the gubernatorial nomination. Like many other Ohio Republicans, he also expressed outrage at Trump’s conviction for having an extramarital tryst with a porn star, paying to silence her to improperly influence the election, and then falsifying business records to cover it all up.
“This quote from President Trump ultimately reflects the truth: ‘The true verdict will be delivered by the people on November 5.'” Husted said in X. He then reposted it, going on to say, “If you’re angry about this, please do something about it by donating, volunteering, and voting.”
Ruthless as ever, some commentators reminded the lieutenant governor that he was one booed loudly at Trump’s 2020 rally in Vandalia, encouraging attendees to wear masks during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Trump has played a leading role in politicizing mask wearing and downplaying a plague that kills nearly 1.2 million Americans.
Ohio’s top elections official also took to social media to defend a newly minted criminal who tried to overturn the 2020 election results and thus steal the votes of 81 million Americans.
“Partisan prosecutor” Secretary of State Frank LaRose said in. “An activist judge. Apparent process. False verdict. It is a sad day in America when a political party is so afraid of losing power that it is willing to abuse justice to negotiate the outcome of an election. It won’t stand.”
LaRose is a key player in Ohio epic gerrymandering, questionable voter purges AND limiting access to votingso it’s compelling that he accused others of desperately clinging to power.
One of the wags also pointed out that the jury had just determined that Trump had falsified numerous business records to support his plot, and that as Secretary of State, LaRose was responsible for Ohio’s business records. It’s unclear what, if anything, LaRose would have done if the former president had rigged them here in the Buckeye State.
Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno, who is challenging Democrat Sherrod Brown in the race for Ohio’s second Senate seat, has also been a vocal supporter of the only former president who also held the title of “criminal.”
“Today is a black day for American democracy.” Moreno said in X. “Joe Biden and his leftist allies engaged in election interference to prosecute their primary political opponent on false charges. This verdict is representative of a banana republic, not a democracy. Sherrod Brown and the D.C. Democrats should be ashamed of this weaponization of our justice system.”
His statement ignores the fact that Biden’s Justice Department declined to bring charges against Trump on the charges that a New York jury found him guilty of. It also ignores the fact that Biden’s Justice Department Is prosecuting the president own son ia sitting Democratic senator.
Brown, his Democratic opponent, faces a challenging re-election in a Republican-leaning state. Asked Friday to comment on Trump’s conviction, Senator Brown stuck to general principles.
“I am not a lawyer or judge, but I have said from the beginning that no one is above the law,” he wrote in an email. “Ultimately, it will be up to the legal system and the American people to decide this issue in November.”
Gov. Mike DeWine’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He’s a Republican who got on Trump’s bad side early in the pandemic when DeWine implemented health orders recommended by experts.
