Two U.S. Senators who voted to impeach Donald Trump are now publicly questioning the political motives behind a set of pending indictments from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s grand jury.
Republican Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia are the latest politicians to openly criticize the indictments against the former president, according to the New York Times:
“It’s just a very, very sad day for America,” said Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the Democrat, referring to Mr. Trump’s indictment in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
“Especially when people are maybe believing that the rule of law or justice is not working the way it’s supposed to and it’s biased — we can’t have that,” Mr. Manchin said. “But on the other hand, no one’s above the law. But no one should be targeted by the law.”
Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, who cemented himself as an enemy of Mr. Trump’s with his conviction vote for Jan. 6, 2021, went even further on the same Fox News program — casting doubt over the ethics and motivations of the Manhattan prosecutor.
“It’s wrong. I’ll put it this way — no one should be the target of the law,” Mr. Cassidy said. “This seems to be more about the person than about the crime.”
Manchin has been openly attacking his party this week, with an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal attacking the Biden administration and its environmentalist policies while also not ruling out running for president in 2024 against Biden during the Sunday morning talk shows. Cassidy, meanwhile, has been under attack by his own party back home after the impeachment vote as well as his support of Biden’s infrastructure plan.
The charges against Trump are still not public, though Trump is expected to report to New York on Tuesday for a reading of the indictments. However, based on what is known, the charges stem from an alleged “hush money” scheme ahead of the 2016 election, in which then-fixer for Trump, Michael Cohen, paid porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an affair between her and Trump while Trump’s wife, Melania, was pregnant with their son.
The case seems to be built on Cohen’s testimony and will focus on business fraud charges, which are normally a misdemeanor in New York – unless that fraud was used to cover up another crime, which makes it a felony. The other crime in question would be federal campaign finance violations, though no charges of such a crime have been filed against Trump in the matter.
The case is certainly unique – no one has tried building one felony charge off the back of a felony allegation that has yet to result in any charges thus far (much less, any convictions). The Washington Post editorial board cast its doubts over whether the scheme could work.
A failed prosecution over the hush-money payment could put them all in jeopardy, as well as provide Mr. Trump ammunition for his accusations of “witch hunt” — in light of which House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was right to urge supporters to refrain from protesting.
Public perception and political strategy shouldn’t dissuade a district attorney from bringing a solid case, but neither should they persuade him to bring a shaky one. This prosecution needs to be airtight. Otherwise, it’s not worth continuing.
Both Cassidy and Manchin refrained from defending Trump in their appearances on Fox News Sunday morning. However, their skepticism is almost assuredly not the only ones in Washington D.C.
However, they are both senators at odds with their own party and looking at potential futures in politics – futures that were more than likely shaken by their impeachment votes and actions in the Senate since then. But that doesn’t make their concerns any less valid.
Trending on RedState Video
Discussion about this post