The Manhattan trial was an attempt to sabotage the former president’s bid for reelection, Greg Abbott has said
Former US President Donald Trump at Manhattan Criminal Court, New York, May 30, 2024. © Getty Images / Michael M. Santiago
The New York trial in which presidential candidate Donald Trump was convicted was a sham perpetrated by the incumbent US president, Joe Biden, to strike out against a political opponent, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has said.
A Manhattan jury on Thursday found Trump guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records, making Trump the first former president in US history to be convicted of a felony. Prosecutors alleged that Trump illegally covered up a hush money payment his former attorney Michael Cohen, made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the weeks before the 2016 election to ensure her silence about an alleged affair from a decade prior. Trump has denied he had an affair with Daniels and his legal team said they will appeal the verdict. The Republican presidential nominee’s fellow party members have taken to social media to slam the verdict.
“This was a sham show trial. The Kangaroo Court will never stand on appeal,” Greg Abbott wrote on X (formerly Twitter) early on Friday. “Americans deserve better than a sitting U.S. President weaponizing our justice system against a political opponent— all to win an election,” he declared, calling on voters to “fire” Joe Biden in November.
This was a sham show trial. The Kangaroo Court will never stand on appeal.Americans deserve better than a sitting U.S. President weaponizing our justice system against a political opponent— all to win an election.We must FIRE Joe Biden in November.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 30, 2024
Another GOP member and House Speaker Mike Johnson also slammed the trial as “lawfare.” “Democrats cheered as they convicted the leader of the opposing party on ridiculous charges, predicated on the testimony of a disbarred, convicted felon,” he said, referring to Cohen’s part in the trial. The “weaponization” of the US justice system is “a hallmark of the Biden Administration,” and “further evidence that Democrats will stop at nothing to silence dissent and crush their political opponents,” Johnson wrote on X.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton reiterated that his support of Donald Trump is “stronger than ever” following the “sham trial.” “As Attorney General of Texas, I will unleash every tool at my disposal to fight this blatant corruption and political persecution spewing from New York and the Biden administration,” he pledged on X.
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Even some Republicans who had previously expressed doubt about Trump’s 2024 presidential run were united in their assessment of the verdict. Senator John Cornyn had endorsed Trump late last year, despite earlier suggesting that the former president will not be able to win. The “verdict is a disgrace,” he wrote on X, adding “we need to rally around” Donald Trump, “take back the White House and Senate, and get this country back on track. The real verdict will be Election Day.”
“Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president,” President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris’ reelection campaign said in a statement following the trial. “The threat Trump poses to our democracy has never been greater,” they wrote on X, calling for people to reject him in November.
