MID-HUDSON – Republican leaders across the region are saying Donald Trump could not have gotten a fair trial, and did not get one, on the 34-count guilty verdict against him for falsifying business records.
Orange County Democratic Party Chairman Zak Constantine said the former president should not be allowed to run for the White House.
“I certainly don’t think he should be running for president of the United States, so a New York State felony conviction doesn’t preclude him from doing so, it sends a really strong message as to what the Republican electorate of today is willing to accept in their nominee,” he said.
Dutchess County Republican Party Chairman Michael McCormack believes Trump will win an appeal.
“I have full confidence in that the appeal will be upheld and that the president will be exonerated on these charges and that we are going to look forward to having him as the next president of the United States again,” he said.
Ken Ronk, the Ulster County GOP chairman, believes the country would be better off with Trump as the next president.
“There are obviously concerns that President Trump is going to win again. It’s obvious to anybody who goes to the grocery store that the country is not doing well under President Biden,” he said.
Michael Dupree, the Dutchess County Democratic Chairman, said it will be up to the voters in November to decide who is worthy of the presidency.
“I hope that they will look carefully at which party they are supporting – law and order and what I am referring to the January 6 riots and the defenses starting six months after by the Republican Party,” he said. “I believe the Democrats are actually showing that we are the ones that believe in law and order and justice.”
The Orange County Republican Party issued a statement calling New York prosecutors “far-left,” saying they are engaged in “the unprecedented prosecution of a former president… instead of addressing the rampant shoplifting, gun violence, and subway assaults that have plagued New York City in recent years.” They said the trial “was flawed from the start and we will support President trump through the appeal process.”
State Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar, who was in Orange County on Thursday, said the “decision is a travesty of justice. The entire trial was engineered by a liberal, anti-Trump district attorney, a Democrat justice, and a Manhattan jury. The verdict comes as no surprise, but it is a shameful mark on our nation’s judicial history.” He said the court decision “will have no bearing on the upcoming election. President Trump’s supporters have known since the beginning that this was nothing but a partisan show trial. Onward to November.”
As for himself, Trump said the trial and verdicts were corrupt and he would appeal them.
