Republican candidates for some of Indiana‘s top state offices called former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial “a sham” and “a flagrant abuse of our justice system” after a jury found Trump guilty Thursday of 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Indiana U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, who is running to represent the Hoosier state in the U.S. Senate and is endorsed by Trump, called New York, where the secret money criminal trial took place, as “a liberal shithole.” in a post on Xformerly known as Twitter.
The trial centered on allegations that Trump hid money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. Trump, who remains popular in Indiana, is the first former US president to be convicted of a crime.
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“This was a rigged and shameful trial,” Trump said after the verdict. “The true verdict will be given by the people on November 5.”
Trump, who clinched the Republican presidential nomination earlier this year, easily won the Indiana primary earlier this month. Since 2016, his endorsement has catapulted Republican candidates to popularity among the party.
Other prominent Indiana Republicans were quick to defend Trump on social media and in statements Thursday. U.S. Sen. Todd Young, who has at times criticized Trump, was notably absent from the list of vocal Trump supporters and declined to comment. As of Friday morning, the Indiana Democratic Party, as well as the two Hoosier Democrats in Congress, had not issued public statements or social media posts about the verdict.
Here’s what other Republicans said (and didn’t say):
Republican Representative Jim Banks
Banks is running for Indiana’s open U.S. Senate seat, backed by Trump, and is likely to score a victory in the November general election in deep red Indiana, with Trump leading Republican ballots.
In posts on her X accounts, Banks criticized Trump’s trial, verdict and sentencing schedule ahead of the Republican National Convention in July as “Truly banana republic stuff“.
Here’s what Banks said in a press release:
“It is a sad day for our country, as Joe Biden and his liberal cronies have moved forward with their election interference plot. Joe Biden is behind all of this because he knows he can’t beat him at the polls. It’s a complete and total farce, and has been from the beginning. Look at the facts: Corrupt District Attorney Alvin Bragg is funded by Biden donors, Judge Juan Merchan donated to Biden and his daughter works for high-profile Democrats, and top prosecutor Matthew Colangelo was previously a top Department of Justice official. Biden’s armed justice. There was no way this was a fair trial.
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“While these New York jurors may have been willing to play a role in this sham, the American people recognize that these charges represent nothing more than election interference orchestrated by the Biden administration. I stand with Donald J. Trump and the American people .do it too.”
Banks has a close relationship with former President Trump and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016, when Trump first won the presidency. Since then, Banks has been a staunch supporter of Trump and has appeared with the former president and his family at rallies and appearances in and outside of Indiana.
Republican Senator Mike Braun
A little more than three weeks ago, U.S. Senator Mike Braun cruised to victory in the Republican primary for governor of Indiana with the endorsement of former President Trump. Braun posted on X criticizing the verdict as a “political weapon.”
“This case was a flagrant abuse of our justice system as a political weapon by a radical prosecutor trying to interfere in the election, and the verdict shows that this was all just a show trial,” Braun said. “Trump is going to win in November because Americans are tired of these political games when the price of everything has doubled in 4 years and the world is at war because of Joe Biden’s weakness and incompetence.”
Republican Senator Todd Young
A spokesman for Indiana Republican Sen. Todd Young declined to comment on Trump’s verdict Thursday.
The ‘no comment’ from Young’s office aligns with the senator’s previous public opinion of the former president. For example, in 2023, Young told a KeynoteUSA reporter that he would not support Trump for the Republican nomination for president in 2024.
Republican U.S. Rep. Erin Houchin
Erin Houchin won her election to Indiana’s 9th Congressional District in 2022 with Trump’s endorsement and is running for re-election again this year with the former president’s support.
In a post on Thursday XHouchin said the former president’s trial and verdict “should never have happened.”
“Today is a sad day in America,” he said. “This trial and verdict should never have happened. I never imagined we would see a former president of the United States being politically prosecuted. This is a clear miscarriage of justice, and the American people will not forget this corrupt two-tier system. “It is a travesty. that we are witnessing this level of electoral interference in our country. I look forward to President Trump’s appeal of this verdict and reversal of it.”
Houchin in May was part of a House interaction where Republicans decided that a Democratic representative violated House rules by describing Trump’s legal problems.
Republican Representative Rudy Yakym
Yakym, who is running for reelection to Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District, said in a post on X on Thursday that the verdict would only help Trump regain the presidency in November. Yakym was elected to the 2nd Congressional District after former U.S. Representative Jackie Walorski died in a car accident.
“The rule of law had a good run for 235 years in the United States, but Joe Biden killed it in a Soviet show trial because he is clearly losing in the polls to President Trump,” Yakym said. “Biden and the left’s lust for power and attacks on democracy are despicable and must be defeated at the ballot box. President Trump has already been acquitted in the court of public opinion. This baseless result will only help President Trump in their path to winning in November and making America great again.
Republican Representative Jim Baird
Baird represents Indiana’s 4th Congressional District and was first elected to Congress in 2018. The congressman, who is up for re-election in November, said in a statement that Thursday’s verdict would be a day “from which Democrats will regret it.”
“Today is a dark day in American history and one that Democrats will come to regret,” Baird said. “To any objective observer, this case was manipulated from the beginning to silence President Biden’s political opponent. For Democrats, the ends justify the means, even if it meant eroding Americans’ trust in the justice system and the Constitution in the process. However, this will only strengthen Trump’s resolve and increase his support, and when November 5th arrives, the American people will say goodbye to President Biden.”
Republican United States Representative Larry Bucshon
U.S. Rep. Larry Bucshon announced in January that he would not seek re-election to Congress after more than a decade representing Indiana’s 8th Congressional District. But although Bucshon will not be in Congress after 2024, he issued a statement Thursday night calling the case against Trump “a serious abuse of the legal system.”
“Today’s verdict is shocking, but not surprising,” Bucshon said. “It is clear to everyone except partisan liberals that the decision to prosecute this case against President Trump was nothing more than a gross abuse of the legal system in an attempt to damage his electoral prospects in this year’s presidential race. Nobody “It is above the law in the United States, but we must also not allow criminal prosecution against an individual to be normalized as a campaign strategy to achieve a partisan electoral result.”
Anne Hathaway, chairwoman of the Indiana Republican Party
Anne Hathaway currently leads the state Republican Party and leads the Republican National Convention Arrangements Committee, which is in charge of running the 2024 convention in Milwaukee.
Trump will be sentenced on July 11, just four days before the start of the convention where Republicans are expected to formally name him the party’s presidential candidate.
In a statement, Hathaway said President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies “weaponized” the justice system. Biden was not involved in the prosecution or determining the verdict of Trump’s trial.
“The weaponization of the American justice system by Joe Biden and his Democratic allies is repugnant and today officially marks a sad day in American history,” Hathaway said. “Unfortunately, the real victims are the American people who must deal with crippling inflation. a humanitarian crisis on the southern border, crumbling public security and instability around the world. Fortunately, the American people will be heard loud and clear when Donald Trump is elected president in November.”
Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at brittany.carloni@indystar.com or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter/X @CarloniBrittany.
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