Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) has become the first Democrat in the Senate to join newly elected President Donald Trump’s social media site — using his first post to once again call for Trump to be pardoned in his hush money case.
“The Trump hush money and Hunter Biden cases were both nonsense, and a pardon is appropriate,” the Pennsylvania senator wrote on Tuesday. “Weaponizing the judiciary for blatant, partisan gain diminishes collective trust in our institutions and sows further division.”
Last week, Fetterman made a similar argument on “The View.”
“I think it’s undeniable that the case against Hunter Biden was really politically motivated, but I also think it’s true that the Trump trial in New York was also politically motivated,” Fetterman told the hosts.
“In both cases, I think a pardon is appropriate and I really think, collectively, American trust in these types of institutions [has] have been damaged by these types of cases, and we cannot allow these types of institutions to be weaponized against our political opponents,” he added.
Trump received a 34-count guilty verdict in the criminal hush money case in May, in a case over his payment of $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels prior to his 2016 presidential victory. He is the first former president to be convicted of a felony, though he has not yet been convicted.
President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter earlier this month after he was found guilty of illegally possessing a gun and pleaded guilty to failing to pay his taxes on time. Hunter Biden, like Trump, has also not yet been convicted.
The pardon provoked reactions from both Republicans and Democrats. Additionally, Biden’s pardon was cited by Trump’s lawyers when they argued that Trump’s convictions in the hush money case should be dropped. Prosecutors have maintained that the convictions should stand.
Fetterman is far from the first high-profile Democrat to join Truth Social; Gov. Gavin Newsom, for example, took office as early as 2022.
