ELECTIONS, POLITICS, & GOVERNMENT
Utah responses to Trump guilty verdict
May 30, 2024, 5:27 PM | Updated: May 31, 2024, 7:58 am
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 30: Former U.S. President Donald Trump walks to go speak to the media after being found guilty following his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 30, 2024 in New York City. The former president was found guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. Trump has now become the first former U.S. president to be convicted of felony crimes. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images)
(Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY — There were varied responses from Utah leaders to the news that former President Donald Trump was found guilty by a New York jury on all 34 counts in a hush money trial on Thursday. But it’s safe to say that, for the most part, the responses fell along political party lines.
Former President Donald Trump responds to yesterday’s verdict live at 9 a.m.!
“Sad day for America”
From his official X platform, Utah Sen. Mike Lee called the verdict a “sad day for America,” and “a political prosecution.”
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) May 30, 2024
The Senator used his personal X account to make somewhat stronger statements.
Congratulations, progressives.
You’ve just guaranteed Trump’s election.
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) May 30, 2024
Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy released a statement in which she described the verdict as a weaponized use of the justice system to keep Trump off the ballot.
“This has been about politics, not law, from the beginning. I hope justice will prevail and voters won’t be deprived of the right to vote for their nominee,” she said.
Utah Rep. Burgess Owens took to his official X platform, calling it a “dark day for America.”
— Rep. Burgess Owens (@RepBurgessOwens) May 30, 2024
On his personal X platform, Owens called the nation’s justice system a “two-tiered sham.”
Our nation’s justice system has descended into a two-tiered sham. The American people know this crooked case was never about the rule of law, but a political witch-hunt perpetrated against the Democrat’s top political opponent, President Trump.
— Burgess Owens (@BurgessOwens) May 30, 2024
“A mockery”
U.S. Senate candidate Brad Wilson described Trump’s guilty verdict as a “mockery of our criminal justice system.”
“The verdict today makes a mockery of our criminal justice system. This trial has been a sham orchestrated for one reason: Democrats know that Joe Biden is losing. This is nothing more than an attempt to interfere with the American people’s right to decide for themselves who our next President should be.”
While Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson turned her focus to the safety of the jurors who found the former president guilty on 34 felony counts.
Praying for the safety of those jurors and their families.
— Deidre Henderson (@DeidreHenderson) May 30, 2024
The former President’s trial involved what prosecutors said was a scheme to influence the presidential election of 2016 by paying money to an adult film actor, who claimed she’d had sex with Trump.
“Rule of law”
Several prominent Utahns focused on the rule of law in their responses to the former President’s guilty verdicts. Jeff Merchant with Alliance for a Better Utah said that with their verdict, the jury held Trump accountable.
“No one is above the law. Former President Trump has consistently shown a blatant disregard for the law and the truth, and a jury of his peers has held him accountable for his fraudulent behavior. The verdict marks a significant development in a legal saga that does not end today, but is only beginning.”
A judge set a sentencing date for July 11. The 2024 Republican National Convention is scheduled to begin four days later in Milwaukee.
Other reading:
- Judge finds Trump in contempt for 10th time over gag order and threatens jail
- Nikki Haley endorses Trump for president
