Senior figures in the Republican Party have reacted with fury after a New York jury convicted former US president Donald Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 election.
US House speaker Mike Johnson described the verdicts as a “shameful day in American history” and said the charges were “purely political”, while Ohio senator JD Vance said the verdict was a “disgrace to the judicial system”.
Steve Scalise, the number two ranked Republican in the US House of Representatives, said the decision was “a defeat for Americans who believe in the critical legal tenet that justice is blind”.
Within minutes of the verdict being read, Republicans who have been divided over support for their presumptive presidential nominee found common ground in attacking the judge, the jury and president Joe Biden, even though the conviction came on state charges in a Manhattan court.
The jury found Mr Trump falsified records in a scheme to influence the election through hush money payments to an adult film actor who had said she had sex with the former president.
The Republican reaction echoed Mr Trump’s language, who said after the verdict was announced that it was a “rigged, disgraceful trial”. He is expected to quickly appeal.
A lone Republican voice, former Maryland governor Larry Hogan, said before the verdict that the public should “respect the verdict and the legal process”.
“At this dangerously divided moment in our history, all leaders — regardless of party — must not pour fuel on the fire with more toxic partisanship,” posted Mr Hogan, who is running for the Senate in Maryland. “We must reaffirm what has made this nation great: the rule of law.”
Other Republicans seized on Mr Trump’s attacks on the judge and the system in the New York trial and three other cases – local and federal charges in Atlanta and Washington that he conspired to undo the 2020 election, and a federal indictment in Florida charging him with illegally holding on to top-secret records after his presidency.
“This verdict says more about the system than the allegations,” said South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, who has been one of Mr Trump’s most frequent allies.
Republicans, including some of his detractors, shared their criticism in posts on X, formerly Twitter, in press releases and TV appearances.
Texas senator John Cornyn, who had distanced himself from the former president after the January 6th, 2021 Capitol attack by Mr Trump’s supporters, said “this verdict is a disgrace, and this trial should have never happened”.
“Now more than ever, we need to rally around @realdonaldtrump, take back the White House and Senate, and get this country back on track,” said Mr Cornyn, who is running to replace Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell when he steps down from the post after the November election. “The real verdict will be Election Day.”
South Dakota senator John Thune, who is also running to be leader and has also been critical of Mr Trump, said the case was “politically motivated from the beginning, and today’s verdict does nothing to absolve the partisan nature of this prosecution”.
As expected, Democrats rejoiced and tried to blunt the Republican attacks.
“Trump toadies are going to attack the jury and the court because they have a plan to dismantle our democracy and it relies on everyone believing the justice system is rigged,” posted Connecticut senator Chris Murphy.
“It isn’t. Donald Trump committed a crime. He got caught. He got convicted. That’s the rule of law.”
