Allies of former President Donald Trump, who are reportedly on his vice presidential shortlist, rushed to his defense Monday on the first day of his historic hush money criminal trial in New York, claiming that the charges against him are politically motivated.
Trump last year was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment he made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump has maintained his innocence, baselessly claiming that the case is an effort by Democratic prosecutors to block his White House bid.
And those Republicans, who are reportedly being considered by Trump to join the ticket, are eager to be seen taking his side.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who endorsed the former president after he ended his own White House bid, claimed the case shows Democrats will do anything to stop Trump from winning in November.
“What the radical Left is doing is not just election interference, it’s election engineering,” Scott wrote. “They will try everything (and fail) to stop Donald J. Trump.”
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-Ark.) who once served as White House press secretary in Trump’s administration, dismissed the entire case as a “witch hunt.”
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) said the trial will “backfire” against the Democrats, calling Trump’s prosecutions “stupid,” and adding that Americans will take note of the fact that Trump would have a hard time campaigning as he has to appear in court for the duration of the trial.
“This is nothing more than a political axe to grind from the radical left and Joe Biden,” Donalds told NewsNation. “I think that him not being able to do as many rallies, people are going to understand that part.”
However, Trump has not hesitated to take the campaign with him to the Manhattan courthouse where the trial is taking place as he spoke to the cameras before and after the proceedings.
Meanwhile, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) fired off several posts blasting the prosecutor in the case, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and Judge Juan Merchan who is overseeing the trial, calling him “corrupt” and claiming his family has profited off the case.
Merchan on Monday denied yet another motion by Trump’s lawyers to recuse himself from the trial over past comments he made, including that he did not like politicians using Twitter.
J.D. Vance, who has signaled he would be open to an invitation by Trump to be his running mate if the position were offered to him, attacked Bragg, claiming the charges he brought against Trump are illegitimate.
“What Alvin Bragg is doing to President Trump is a disgrace to the rule of law and the opposite of Justice,” Vance said.
Ahead of the trial’s start, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) told CNN that criminal charges would have never been filed in this case if Trump were not the defendant in question.
“This is an unprecedented attack on a candidate during a political year,” Burgum said. “If this was any other business person in America this would not be a trial, and it wouldn’t be on the front page.”
Kari Lake, who is the favorite to win the Republican Party’s primary for outgoing Sen. Kirsten Synema’s (I) seat in Arizona, took issue specifically with the judge for not immediately greenlighting a motion by Trump to get an exception to appearing in court in order to attend his son’s high school graduation on May 17.
Judge Merchan said he would not yet rule on a recess on that day until he could determine whether the trial was going to be on schedule.
“All the hard work our kids put into graduating, & President Trump is being robbed of getting to experience his son’s High School graduation ceremony,” Lake said. “This corrupt judge is heartless & cruel.”
Still, Trump’s selection process is in the “early stages,” according to a New York Times report published Sunday, and the former president is also placing weight on how a potential running mate could help his fundraising operation.