Former President Donald Trump’s guilty verdict in his hush money trial has enticed his critics along with moderate Republicans to stand by the convicted felon.
This includes Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who are now backing Trump after being longtime critics of him, according to The Hill.
After the verdict, McConnell said the “charges never should have been brought in the first place.” He also said an appeal will overturn the conviction.
Collins said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg confused “the lines between the judicial system and the electoral system” when he vowed to prosecute Trump when he ran for DA.
“This decision has the same dramatic effect across the country like President Clinton’s impeachment. They are very different scenarios, but both caused a massive rally effect. With Clinton it was Democrats, and now with Trump it’s Republicans who believe there is judicial overreach,” Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist and former senior Senate and House leadership aide, said.
He added McConnell’s decision to defend Trump gave way to other Republicans to do the same.
“He’s giving establishment Republicans permission to be supportive of Trump going into November,” he said.
Nikki Haley, a Trump foe in the GOP primary, has not said anything regarding the verdict, but said she will vote for Trump.
Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president, has said he will not endorse Trump for the presidency, but called the verdict an “outrage.”
“The conviction of former President Trump on politically motivated charges is an outrage and disservice to the nation,” he told Fox News Digital.
“No one is above the law, but our courts must not become a tool to be used against political opponents,” he said. “To millions of Americans, this was nothing more than a political prosecution driven by a Manhattan DA who ran for office on a pledge to indict the former president and this conviction undermines confidence in our system of justice.”
An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll conducted before the verdict showed 25% of Republican respondents said they would be more likely to vote for Trump if he was found guilty.
In the same poll, 67% of surveyed voters said they would not vote differently regardless of whether Trump was found guilty.
Jim McLaughlin, a Trump pollster, said McConnell, Collins and Pence are backing Trump because they are offended by the conviction over conduct that has been known about for years.
“What’s happened is people realize this is wrong, it’s flat out wrong,” he said.
