Wyoming’s congressional delegation hasn’t changed their opinion about former President Donald Trump after he was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records on Thursday afternoon.
Trump was convicted for falsifying records that could have derailed his ascent to the White House in 2016. He is the first American president to be declared a felon.
Although he’s facing up to four years in prison, Trump could receive probation when sentenced in July, and has said he plans to appeal the verdict.
U.S. Sen. John Barrasso said the case against Trump has never been about justice and that Democrats are weaponizing the justice system against a political opponent.
“Elections are decided in voting booths, not courtrooms,” he said. “President Trump will keep fighting to get America back on track.“
U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis agreed, stating that the trial was "a biased political persecution from the start."
This is a dark day for our Republic and does irreparable damage to Americans’ trust in our judicial system by undermining the Constitution for political gain," Lummis said.
U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman said the case against Trump is unjust and a politically motivated attempt to get President Joe Biden reelected that will not succeed.
“This entire infuriating episode is the liberal Democrats’ desperate gasp to win a presidential election that they will ultimately lose,” she said in a Thursday statement. “The American people will see this for what it is, Donald Trump will ultimately have the verdict overturned on appeal, and we must all ensure that this abuse of the legal system is never allowed to happen again.”
Gov. Mark Gordon, who has never had the coziest of relationship with Trump, voiced his dissatisfaction too.
"I am extraordinarily disappointed that our justice system is being used so obviously in an attempt to influence our elections," he posted on X. "Voters will choose the next president, not a New York jury. This case has damaged Americans' confidence in an impartial judiciary."
U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis was not immediately available for comment.
The Case
The jury of 12 New Yorkers found Trump guilty after a five-week trial featuring explicit testimony from porn star Stormy Daniels about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in 2006. Trump denies ever having sex with Daniels.
Trump’s former-fixer Michael Cohen testified during the trial that Trump approved a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels in the critical final weeks of the 2016 election, a time when he faced multiple other accusations of sexual misbehavior.
Trump’s attorneys hammered Cohen’s credibility, highlighting his criminal record, imprisonment and history of lying.
They also asked the judge, Juan Merchan, to throw out the guilty verdict, arguing that it was based on Cohen’s unreliable testimony. Merchan denied the request.
Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan, is the president of a firm that has done marketing work for Democratic candidates, including some of Trump’s most outspoken opponents including President Joe Biden.
A screenshot captured by right-wing news outlets from her LinkedIn page shows that she worked on now-Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign.
“Judge Juan Merchan, an activist judge, whose daughter has made over $9 million from the Biden/Harris campaign, presided over a trial where he blocked key witnesses, testimony, and facts by the defense and provided slanted jury instructions prior to the jury deliberating the case,” Hageman said. “The case was brought after the statute of limitations had passed and was elevated to a felony by a district attorney that campaigned on ‘getting Trump’.
Falsifying business records is usually a misdemeanor offense, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg elevated it to a felony on the grounds that Trump was concealing an illegal campaign contribution.
Upcoming Election
Although Trump is the first former president to be convicted for a felony, he will not be the first convicted felon to run for president. According to Politico, Socialist Party nominee Eugene V. Debs ran for president in 1920 from a prison cell while serving a 10-year federal sentence for imploring his supporters to resist the World War I draft. He captured 3% of the vote.
Trump told reporters after the verdict was returned that the real verdict will come on Election Day, Nov. 5 and that he’s a “very innocent man.”
“This was a disgrace,” Trump said. “This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who is corrupt.”
Election Interference
Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who oversees Wyoming’s elections, said the Trump case is a clear example of election interference.
“This ‘verdict’ is left-wing election interference and a threat to the very foundations of our republic,” Gray said on Facebook. “President Trump is 100% innocent. This ‘verdict’ will be overturned on appeal and at the ballot box.”
Despite accusations like these, the Biden campaign had a relatively muted response to Trump’s conviction on Thursday, other than saying it showed that no one is above the law.
“There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box,” the Biden campaign said in a statement.
The hush money case will likely be the only of four currently pending against Trump to go to trial before the election, as the other three have received significant procedural delays.
Trump’s sentencing will occur on July 11, four days before the start of the Republican National Convention.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
