Democrat Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) has called on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to pardon former President Donald Trump for the sake of the United States.
In a case brought by progressive District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records.
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.
— Dean Phillips (@deanbphillips) June 1, 2024
Phillips warned that a harsh sentence for Trump would make Americans view him as a martyr and backfire on the Democratic Party in the 2024 election.
Although Phillips made it clear he was not trying to defend Trump-- calling him a serial liar and a cheater-- the Democrat cautioned that his conviction would make Trump supporters come out of the woodwork.
You think pardoning is stupid?
— Dean Phillips (@deanbphillips) June 1, 2024
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.
Just hours after the Thursday verdict was announced, the Trump campaign revealed that it had received $52.8 million in donations.
In comparison, during the 2016 election cycle, the largest fundraising haul in history at that point was just $16 million.
Trump called the sham trial “rigged” and “disgraceful,” saying that the real verdict will be on November 5.