Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) has no love lost for Donald Trump, so when he criticizes Bragg, you can take it to heart.
Romney believes that Bragg should have never brought the case to trial, calling it “political malpractice.”
Talking Points…
- Bragg indicts Trump
- Romney comments on the trial
- Analysis
In 99/100 cases such as this, the case never would have seen the inside of a courtroom. We are talking about a $130,000 transaction, so it likely would have resulted in back taxes on the transaction, a small fine, and a penalty, and the case would have been over. Bragg, however, decided to try to make this an election fraud case because Trump allegedly did not want these stories getting out during the election cycle.
Mind you, after the DOJ declined to prosecute, Bragg initially did not want to press charges. He only moved forward after Trump announced he would run again in 2024, turning a misdemeanor into a felony by tying it to election laws. Even so, the case was flimsy at best, but Bragg drew a friendly judge, and this was a New York jury, so the chances of Trump getting off were slim.
I thought Trump might get a hung jury, but after two days of deliberations, the jury announced that Trump was found guilty on all 34 charges. After reading the jury instructions given by Judge Merchan, it is no wonder Trump was found guilty. But, as I have stated before, I firmly believe the case is ripe for turnover on appeal.
Romney and Trump have been going at it ever since the 2016 election cycle. It appeared like they may make up for a minute, but when Trump refused to add Romney to his cabinet after the 2016 win, these two were at each other’s throats, with Romney even voting to impeach Trump. If he is being kind to Trump and critical of Bragg, you can take it at face value.
To that point, Romney hit Bragg pretty good after the trial was over, stating:
“Bragg should have settled the case against Trump, as would have been the normal procedure. But he made a political decision.
“Bragg may have won the battle, for now, but he may have lost the political war. Democrats think they can put out the Trump fire with oxygen. It’s political malpractice.”
These comments came after Romney had blistered Joe Biden for not pardoning Trump after all the indictments were filed against Trump. At the time, he stated:
“Had I been President Biden, when the Justice Department brought on indictments, I would have immediately pardoned him.
“Because it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person [who] pardoned a little guy.”
Romney is right here, and I think this is all going to backfire on Democrats badly. We have already seen Trump supporters flood his website with donations after the verdict came in, and the outrage is flooding social media in Trump’s favor. Biden is not helping matters by being coy with reporters on the fact, as well as Democrats are already firing attacks at Trump using the phrase “convicted felon.”
After seeing what happened, it is rather hard not to believe this was the Democratic plan all along, as most of us suspected. However, as we noted, this appears to be backfiring on Democrats, and Trump has surged in polling taken right after the verdict was announced. We will have to watch over the next month to see if that was just a one-time surge for Trump or if it will remain constant leading into election day.
