Sen. JD Vance slams Trump conviction on CNN, calls it 'politics masquerading as justice'

Senator JD Vance (R-OH) slammed the conviction of Donald Trump in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Friday where he described the trial as "politics masquerading as justice." During his interview, he added that the consequences of the trial will be terrible for the country.    

"This judge committed multiple elements of reversible error and he did it while his daughter has made a ton of money off of Democratic candidates and while he himself donated to the Biden campaign,” Vance said.   

“You cannot say that this trial was anything more than politics masquerading as justice,” he added. “And yes, I will help Donald Trump however I think that I can, Wolf, because if we allow this to happen, it's so much bigger and so much more troubling than Donald Trump. If we allow the standard that you can throw your political opponents in jail because they’re doing better than you in an election, it will be the end of this country as we know it.”   

Wolf pushed back on Vance and asked, “So, you don't think this was a fair trial at all?”   

“No, Wolf. I do not think it was a fair trial at all. And more importantly, again, everybody's focusing on Donald Trump, understandably, but the principle that we're establishing applies across our politics.” Vance responded. “We're basically saying that if you don't like the outcome of an election, or you don't like how an election is about to transpire, you can try to throw your opponent in jail. Wolf, the entire predicate here is a paperwork violation.”   

When Blitzer then pushed back against Vance again about how Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought the case and not Biden, Vance argued again, saying that the “number three person” in the “Biden Department of Justice,” presumably, Michael Colangelo, joined the team and then the DA’s office went after Trump.    

“This has politics written all over it,” Vance added.  
 
Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsified business records in connection to alleged payments made by Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair she had with Trump. The prosecution argued that Trump reimbursed Cohen for these in violation of campaign finance laws.

DA Alvin Bragg made the case that the falsified business records charges, usually misdemeanors and past the statute of limitations in New York, could be escalated to felonies because he argued they were made to cover up a different crime. Judge Juan Merchan told the jury that they did not have to agree on the underlying crime to escalate the falsified business records charges.