The outgoing Democratic US representative who failed in his presidential primary challenge against Joe Biden called on the New York governor, Kathy Hochul, to pardon Donald Trump over his criminal conviction for hush-money payments to influence the 2016 election “for the good of the country”.
Minnesota representative Dean Phillips, who was the first Democrat to call on fellow party member Henry Cuellar to resign following bribery charges against the Texas representative, urged for the pardon on Friday in a post on X.
“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,” wrote Phillips, who was first elected to Congress to represent a wealthier suburban area outside Minneapolis in 2019 but gave up seeking re-election to his seat in November to pursue his unsuccessful primary challenge to Biden.
Hochul, Phillips added, “should pardon [Trump] for the good of the country”.
In another X post on Saturday morning, Phillips doubled down on his call for leniency for the former Republican president.
“You think pardoning is stupid? Making him a martyr over a payment to a porn star is stupid. (Election charges are entirely different),” he wrote. Referring to Trump’s claims that he has seen a spike in donations after his conviction, Phillips added: “It’s energizing his base, generating record sums of campaign cash, and will likely result in an electoral boost.”
The chances of Hochul pardoning Trump seem slim. The Democratic governor’s statements after Trump’s conviction touted the rule of law, a principle under which “all persons, institutions and entities are accountable” to laws.
“Today’s verdict reaffirms that no one is above the law,” Hochul said in a statement after a jury found Trump guilty on Thursday of 34 counts of felony falsification of business records.
Hochul also said in a National Public Radio interview “Justice was served” – suggesting potential opposition to a pardon – continuing:
“In the state of New York, if you commit a crime, and there’s evidence to demonstrate that you have met the standards of being arrested and brought to a trial and a jury of your peers considers all the evidence, then their verdict must hold.
“And that’s exactly how the rule of law has always prevailed in our country. And this is no different. So I just want to make sure everyone knows our rule is no one is above the law.”
Trump’s campaign claimed on Friday that he had raised $53m following the verdict – breaking GOP records, according to the New York Times. The newspaper notes that Trump’s predominant fundraising entity took in $58m over the second half of 2023, demonstrating the immensity of this windfall.
Former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, who testified that he carried out the hush-money payment in 2016 while Trump successfully ran for the White House, expressed concern about Thursday’s conviction leading to prison time for the former president.
Cohen’s remarks seemingly alluded to how Trump, in a separate criminal case pending against him, is charged with improperly retaining classified materials after his presidency and keeping them in areas that weren’t secure.
“My concern is in a prison situation … He’s willing to give away the secrets, as I always say, for beggar tuna or a book of stamps, and he will do it because he doesn’t care,” Cohen said on MSNBC’s The Weekend.
