The outgoing Democratic US congressman, who failed in his presidential primary against Joe Biden, called on New York Governor Kathy Hochul to pardon Donald Trump over his criminal conviction for paying hush money to influence the 2016 election’ for the good of the country’. ”.
Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips, who was the first Democrat to call on fellow party member Henry Cuellar to resign following bribery allegations against the Texas congressman, urged a pardon in a post to X on Friday.
“Donald Trump is a serial liar, cheater and womanizer, a six-time corporate bankrupt, an inciter of insurrection and a convicted felon who profits from portraying himself as a victim,” Phillips wrote. Hochul “must pardon him for the good of the country.”
In another X post on Saturday morning, Phillips doubled down on his call for clemency for the former Republican president.
“Do you think forgiveness is stupid? Making him a martyr over a payment to a porn star is stupid. (Election charges are completely different),” he wrote. Referring to Trump’s claims that he has seen a spike in donations following his conviction, Phillips added: “It energizes his base, generates record amounts of campaign cash and will likely result in an electoral boost.”
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The chance that Hochul will pardon Trump seems slim. The Democratic governor’s statements following Trump’s conviction touted the rule of law, a principle under which “all persons, institutions and entities must be accountable” to laws.
“Today’s verdict reaffirms that no one is above the law,” Hochul said in a statement after a jury found Trump guilty on Thursday of 34 counts of falsifying company records.
Hochul may also have suggested opposition to pardons in an interview with National Public Radio, saying, “Justice has been served.”
“If you commit a crime in New York State and there is evidence to show that you have met the standards of arrest and being brought to trial and a jury of your peers considers all the evidence, then their verdict should stand .
“And that is exactly how the rule of law has always prevailed in our country. And this is no different. So I want to make sure everyone knows that our rule is that no one is above the law.”
Trump’s camp has tried to establish that his post-conviction fundraising efforts have yielded a windfall.
Trump’s campaign claimed Friday that he has raised $53 million following the verdict, which is a record for the Republican Party, according to the New York Times. The paper notes that Trump’s main fundraising entity has raked in $58 million in the second half of 2023, demonstrating the immensity of this windfall.
Former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, who testified that he made the hush money payment in 2016 while Trump was successfully running for the White House, expressed concern about Thursday’s conviction that led to prison time for the former president.
Cohen’s comments apparently alluded to how Trump, in a separate criminal case against him, is accused of improperly preserving classified material after his presidency and keeping it in areas that were not as secure.
“My concern is in a prison situation… He’s willing to give away the secrets, as I always say, for beggar’s tuna or a stamp book, and he’ll do it because he doesn’t care,” Cohen said on MSNBC’s The Weekend .
