A Democratic congresswoman has called on New York Governor Kathy Hochul to pardon former President Donald Trump.
Rep. Dean Phillips said in a social media post that a conviction for Trump would only boost his campaign.
Phillips then called on New York Governor Kathy Hochul to pardon the former president “in the best interest of the country.”
Trump was convicted earlier this week in his hush money trial of 34 counts of falsifying company records.
In a post on
“Governor Kathy Hochul should pardon him for the sake of the country.”
Representative Dean Phillips, seen here, said in a social media post that a conviction for Trump only boosted his campaign
Phillips asked Governor Kathy Hochul to do it ‘for the good of the country’
Trump walks out to talk to the media after being found guilty following his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 30, 2024
Twelve hours after his original post asking for a pardon, for which he was widely criticized, Phillips added: “You think pardons are stupid?
“Making him a martyr over a payment to a porn star is stupid. (Election costs are completely different).
“It will energize his supporters, generate record amounts of campaign cash and will likely result in an electoral boost.”
A person from the Hochul area told me the New York Post vSaying a pardon for Trump was “unlikely”, he added: “I can’t imagine a world where she would consider this, this doesn’t make sense.”
Phillips gained national attention earlier this year after he launched a primary challenge against President Biden for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination.
The Minnesota lawmaker and heir to one of America’s biggest drinking dynasties suspended his campaign after a disastrous Super Tuesday.
Trump said outside court Thursday: “This was a disgrace, this was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge.
“The real verdict will be pronounced by the people on November 5 and they know what happened here, and everyone knows what happened here.”
A person close to Hochul told the New York Post that a pardon for Trump was “unlikely.”
JL Partners surveyed 403 likely voters immediately after Thursday’s guilty verdict to assess its impact on the November election. The results suggest a slight increase for Trump
The verdict comes after five weeks of dramatic evidence and 22 witnesses questioned on the stand.
The charges on which Trump was convicted each carry a maximum prison sentence of up to four years.
According to an exclusive DailyMail.com poll after the guilty verdict in Manhattan, Trump’s positive ratings had risen.
Of those who said the verdict had changed their view of Trump, 22 percent said they now viewed him more favorably, compared to 16 percent who said they viewed him more negatively.
That six-point net positive is a sign of how the businessman-turned-politician seems able to weather crises that would sink anyone else.
In particular, the numbers show a net positive impact of four points among independent voters, the group that could decide who will be the next president in November.
At the same time, the Trump campaign said there had been a massive fundraising drive in the hours after the ruling, bringing in $34.8 million from small donors — nearly double the daily record haul.