DeSantis Puts Rivalry Aside, Delivers Fiery Message After Trump's Guilty Verdict - 'Kangaroo Court'
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a rival to former President Donald Trump in this year’s Republican presidential primary race, laid into the New York legal system in a lengthy statement on May 30, after Trump was convicted on 34 felony charges in Manhattan.
A jury of 12 New Yorkers ruled after two days of deliberations that the former president had committed nearly three dozen crimes in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s controversial “hush money” trial of the former president.
A sentencing hearing will be held on July 11 — just four days before the Republican National Convention begins in Milwaukee.
DeSantis, who had hoped to be nominated at the convention, unleashed on what he described as the “kangaroo court” that secured Trump’s conviction.
“Today’s verdict represents the culmination of a legal process that has been bent to the political will of the actors involved: a leftist prosecutor, a partisan judge and a jury reflective of one of the most liberal enclaves in America — all in an effort to ‘get’ Donald Trump,” the governor wrote.
He continued, “That this case – involving alleged misdemeanor business records violations from nearly a decade ago – was even brought is a testament to the political debasement of the justice system in places like New York City.
“This is especially true considering this same district attorney routinely excuses criminal conduct in a way that has endangered law-abiding citizens in his jurisdiction.”
DeSantis further called for equal application of the country’s laws as he skewered New York Democrats for weaponizing the legal system against President Joe Biden’s chief political rival.
“It is often said that no one is above the law, but it is also true that no one is below the law,” he said.
“If the defendant were not Donald Trump, this case would never have been brought, the judge would have never issued similar rulings, and the jury would have never returned a guilty verdict,” DeSantis said.
The governor concluded, “In America, the rule of law should be applied in a dispassionate, even-handed manner, not become captive to the political agenda of some kangaroo court.”
Today’s verdict represents the culmination of a legal process that has been bent to the political will of the actors involved: a leftist prosecutor, a partisan judge and a jury reflective of one of the most liberal enclaves in America—all in an effort to “get” Donald Trump.
That…
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) May 30, 2024
The Florida Republican suspended his campaign on Jan. 21 after a disappointing showing in Iowa and just before the New Hampshire primary.
In doing so, DeSantis endorsed the former president.
“He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form or warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents,” the governor said.
Trump unleashed on New York’s legal system after the verdict was read on May 30.
“The real verdict will be on November 5th by THE PEOPLE—they know what happened here,” he said on his Truth Social platform.
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