Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) recently stated during an interview that the had backfired on the Democratic Party. According to Phillips, liberals had hoped Trump’s prosecutions would be their “salvation,” but that had not played out as expected.
Phillips previously led an unsuccessful attempt to challenge President Biden in the Democratic primaries. However, he dropped out of the primary late last year after failing to garner enough support from his party.
“I think the New York cases, if anything, may have backfired against those who thought that it would be the salvation. But I don’t think the New York cases are exactly what Democrats were hoping they would be,” Phillips during an interview with CNN anchor Manu Raju.
Raju questioned other congressmen on the impact of the legal battles against Trump, asking if an acquittal in the trial might improve his support. Rep. Jamie Raskin suggested that the case has exposed Trump’s “character,” which would weaken his appeal. “I don’t really think so. I think, you know, Donald Trump’s character is clear to the world,” Raskin told Raju.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) claimed the “centrist” opinion among voters resulting from the cases brought against him is that Trump is that Trump’s conduct was “abhorrent.” He added, “The broad centrist middle of the American people, I think, understand what he did and why it is so abhorrent. I’m already deeply disturbed that Donald Trump has succeeded in slow-walking one or more of those cases.”
Furthermore, CNN’s Sara Murray illustrated that Trump being acquitted in the New York Hush money case brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg would be a disaster for the Democrats, giving Trump an outlet to attack Biden.
“Acquitted is the worst-case scenario for Democrats, because then, it’s the only trial you have and Donald Trump gets to go out there and say Joe Biden’s prosecutors, which again, not true, came after me. His Department of Justice came after me and they still didn’t convict me. I’m still innocent,” Murray said.
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The American Tribune also reported on comments from Sen. Rick Scott, who claimed that DA Bragg was “trying to frame” former President Trump in the hush money case over how he reported the alleged payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in his taxes. Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records.
CNN host Dana Bash asked Scott, “I do want to ask about closing arguments in the criminal trial in New York. They are set for Tuesday. The jury could deliver a verdict later this week on 34 felony charges. I know you’ve criticized the prosecutors and the judge, but this case will ultimately be decided by 12 ordinary citizens. Do you have faith that the jury is going to deliver a fair verdict?”
Scott responded, “Well, there’s no crimes so I assume that they will actually find him innocent. The only person guilty in that courtroom as DA Bragg, guilty of corrupting the justice system, guilty of not doing his job, and guilty of trying to frame an innocent man. It’s really the two tear justice system that has so many Americans concerned about fairness in our country.” Watch Sen. Scott’s comments below:
Featured image credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dean_Phillips_(52152165741).jpg