A 12-person jury took more than nine hours to convict former President Donald Trump of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
A handful Fifty percent of Trump's potential running mates took less than nine minutes to condemn the verdict.
The reading of the “guilty” verdict began at 5:06pm on Thursday in Judge Juan Marchand's New York courtroom. By 5:12pm, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem had defended Trump online.
“Highly inconsistent Biden donors + liberal judge + unfair jury with unconstitutional jury instructions + far left prosecutor = wrongful conviction,” Noem, who Trump is said to be considering as a running mate, wrote on X. “It's clear this case will be overturned on appeal and Trump will be exonerated quickly and easily.”
Another candidate, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, also weighed in on X a minute later.
“The New York verdict is a complete travesty that makes a mockery of our judicial system,” he wrote, adding insult to injury to Marchan and “a jury from the most liberal county in America.”
Next up, at 5:14pm, was Senator JD Vance of Ohio, who on the same social media platform called the ruling “an disgrace to the rule of law and the Constitution.”
It was a swift, violent and entirely predictable political outcome to Trump's legal case. The incident New York has become an informal audition ground for vice presidential candidates, with several leading contenders showing up, including Vance and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who appeared in court Thursday to voice his support during the weeks-long trial. Less likely candidates, including Rep. Byron Donald (R-Fla.) and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, have also made appearances in New York.
The vice presidential candidates also consistently defended Trump on television (especially conservative and right-wing media such as Fox News) and on social media.
Within an hour of the verdict being read, reactions from candidates flooded in on social media.
At 5:17, Donald said, “Donald Trump is innocent. I don't care what the jury says.”
“Today's verdict shows how our weaponized justice system has become corrupt, rigged and un-American,” Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York said at 5:17 p.m. [President] “Joe Biden and the Democratic Party”
Many statements are The harshest criticism was directed at Mr. Marchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“The prosecutors are politicians who promised to get Trump,” Ramaswami posted (5:20), noting that Bragg had long vowed to investigate the case.
Two Arkansas Republicans, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Senator Tom Cotton, both called (at 5:29) it a “politically motivated sham trial.” Each is a “blatantly partisan judge.”
As they vented their anger, Trump's former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson added, “The justice system has been used as a weapon to attack the president for political gain. Imagine what they could do to you!”
Vance, who wrote a letter this week urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to open a criminal investigation into Marchan, slammed the jury again with another challenge in a statement released from his Senate office (5:30 p.m.).
“The partisan bias of this jury shows why politics should be fought at the ballot box, not in the courtroom,” Vance said. “Ultimately, I believe the 2024 election will be decided by the American people, not corrupt judges and prosecutors.”
Most of the candidates followed up their posts with appeals to raise funds for Trump.
Burgum arrived relatively late to the party.
“This sentence is a travesty of justice,” Burgum posted at 5:52. (Burgum also included a promotion for a Trump fundraiser.)
At 6:02 p.m., about an hour after the verdict, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina weighed in on the controversy with a video blast of the jury's decision and of Bragg and Marchan.
“District Attorney Bragg and the judge should be ashamed of themselves,” he said in the one-minute video. “This isn't just ridiculous. This actually undermines the trust that the American people have in our justice system. It's unbelievable. It's just unbelievable.”
