Following the shocking conviction of former President Donald Trump on all 34 felony charges brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, United States Congressman Dean Phillips, a Democrat from Minnesota, called on the Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, to pardon Trump to help America make it through these unprecedented times.
Rep. Phillips made that call in a post on X. It was directed toward Governor Hochul because the case brought by DA Bragg, though connected to federal election law and taxes, was a state case on state charges. So, when it comes to a pardon, it is under the purview of the New York Governor, not the President of the United States, as is only the case with federal matters.
In his post, Phillips attacked Trump but still called on Gov. Hochul to pardon the former president “for the good of the country,” saying, “Donald Trump is a serial liar, cheater, and philanderer, a six-time declarer of corporate bankruptcy, an instigator of insurrection, and a convicted felon who thrives on portraying himself as a victim. @GovKathyHochul should pardon him for the good of the country.”
Following that up with a second post on the matter, Rep. Phillips wrote, “You think pardoning is stupid? Making him a martyr over a payment to a porn star is stupid. (Election charges are entirely different.) It’s energizing his base, generating record sums of campaign cash, and will likely result in an electoral boost.”
That, at least, appears to be true, as shown by the former president’s post-conviction fundraising numbers. In the days after his conviction on DA Bragg’s charges, Trump raised over $50 million for his campaign, blowing Biden’s entire fundraising for the month out of the water. Even a formerly Hillary-supporting Sequoia Capital, Silicon Valley bigwig donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Trump after the verdict.
Trump has also used the trial to garner sympathy and support. For example, in a post on X, he wrote, “After sitting for five weeks through that Rigged Trial in Lower Manhattan, which was surrounded by vast but unnecessary numbers of New York’s Finest in order to keep law abiding MAGA patriots away, and as I watched insignificant numbers of fully funded Radical Left troublemakers, with brand new and gleaming professionally made signs, screaming and cursing from areas said to be closed to us, and all others, I realized that Reason, Truth, and Love of our Country is no longer a force of Good and Change. These are Dark Days in America!”
In another post, he called himself a “political prisoner” and America a “failing nation”, then called on people to vote for him on election day to help right the wrong done to him by the court system, saying, “I AM THE POLITICAL PRISONER OF A FAILING NATION, BUT I WILL SOON BE FREE, NOVEMBER 5TH, AND MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump also wrote, “My bookkeeper called a “Legal Expense,” on the “tiny” description line of the Ledger, a “Legal Expense,” openly paid to my lawyer, at that time a fully accredited one. I was not involved in that designation, but what else would you have called it? It was, in fact, a LEGAL EXPENSE. That is the so-called “CRIME.” On top of that, I wasn’t allowed by the judge to use, in any form, the standard RELIANCE ON COUNSEL DEFENSE (ADVICE OF COUNSEL!). My lawyer, at the time, did virtually everything on the NDA (NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT), and I assumed that what he did was correct. I did nothing wrong, and frankly, there was nothing done wrong – NDA’s are standard, commonly used, and LEGAL. MAGA2024! WITCH HUNT! IF THIS CAN HAPPEN TO ME, IT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE!”
Watch Trump speak about his battle with the Manhattan court here:
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