U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) on Friday urged New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to pardon Donald Trump following the former president’s conviction on 34 charges in his hush money trial.
Phillips, a onetime presidential candidate who ended his long-shot bid for the White House in March, made the entreaty after Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records to cover up a payoff to a porn star who said that she’d slept with Trump — an affair that Trump has denied.
“Donald Trump is a serial liar, cheater, and philanderer, a six-time declarer of corporate bankruptcy, an instigator of insurrection, and a convicted felon who thrives on portraying himself as a victim,” Phillips wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “[Hochul] should pardon him for the good of the country.”
During the presidential primaries, Phillips said that he’d support Joe Biden if the Democratic incumbent were “15-20 years younger,” but that “it’s absurd” to nominate Biden in 2024 “considering his age.” He changed his tune upon losing to Biden in his home state on Super Tuesday.
Nonetheless, Phillips is now arguing that Biden’s Republican rival for the White House should not be made a “martyr over a payment to a porn star.”
“It’s energizing his base, generating record sums of campaign cash, and will likely result in an electoral boost,” he wrote Saturday, explaining his reasoning for a pardon.
But the New York governor has already suggested that she won’t consider the idea.
“Today’s verdict reaffirms that no one is above the law,” Hochul said Thursday in a statement. “We are committed to protecting the … integrity of our judicial system.”
The notion that Trump should be pardoned for the good of the U.S. — reminiscent of Gerald Ford’s reasoning for pardoning his predecessor in the White House, Richard Nixon, in 1974 — has also been promulgated by conservative figures like pundit Bill O’Reilly and U.S. Rep Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.).
Trump is set to be sentenced July 11. The former president still faces three other criminal prosecutions, which concern the retainment of classified documents and alleged election interference. Trump has pleaded not guilty in those cases.
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