Overview
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) vehemently criticized the verdict in former President Donald Trump’s New York “hush money” trial, condemning it as a politically motivated show trial. Rubio argued that the trial was emblematic of tactics used in authoritarian regimes to undermine political opponents.
Why It Matters
This trial raises concerns about the use of the judicial system for political purposes, potentially threatening democratic principles and the integrity of future elections.
Who It Impacts
The outcome of this trial impacts not only former President Trump but also sets a precedent that could affect all American citizens by undermining trust in the judicial system.
In a fervent appearance on Fox News with host Sean Hannity, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) denounced the verdict in former President Donald Trump’s New York “hush money” trial, where Trump was found guilty on all counts. Rubio likened the trial to those in communist regimes, suggesting it was an effort to interfere in the upcoming election.
“This is a quintessential show trial,” Rubio stated, reflecting on his parents’ experiences after fleeing Cuba in 1956, two years before Fidel Castro’s rise to power. “This is what you see in communist countries. This is what I grew up having people in the [Cuban exile] community tell me about. It happened in the days after the Castro revolution. Obviously, those led to executions. This, on the other hand, is an effort to interfere in an election.”
Rubio did not mince words about President Joe Biden’s administration, attributing numerous national issues to Biden’s leadership. “Joe Biden is clearly senile and declining. He’s clearly weak, which is why the world is on fire. He’s incompetent, which is why we have runaway inflation and a border that is being invaded every single day. And then add to all of that, he likes to lie. He tells people lies all the time about how great the economy is doing, how there is no problem at the border. The guy’s behind in the polls. He can’t win. The only chance they have to win this election is to keep Donald Trump in a courtroom.”
Rubio questioned the impartiality of the judge and jury involved in the case. “In this particular case, they found themselves a Democrat judge,” he explained. “This judge gave money to Joe Biden in 2020. His daughter is a campaign consultant for Democrats who’s actually out there marketing ‘Convict Trump’ stuff. Then you’ve got a DA who basically said, ‘I am going to go after Trump and put him away,’ when he was running for office to get elected. He didn’t know what he was going to put him away for, but he promised to put him away for something. Then you have a jury … that lives in Manhattan, which voted 85% for Joe Biden.”
The charges against Trump, according to Rubio, were frivolous and politically motivated. “And then what did they charge him with? Donald Trump signed checks. And when he labeled the checks, he labeled them as payments to his lawyer, who, by the way, is a serial liar and the key witness in this case. He put ‘legal expenses,’ and that is what they convicted him on. But that’s not the goal here. The goal here is to keep him tied up in court. You think this judge sets that day three days before the [Republican national] convention is a coincidence? He knows exactly what day he set, and he knew exactly why he was doing it.”
Rubio warned of broader implications for the judicial system and political landscape in the United States. “This is the most outrageous travesty I’ve ever seen,” he declared. “And the problem here is Democrats have crossed this line. They have crossed the line in which now the court system is a political weapon, and it’s going to be very hard for it not to come back the other way. I don’t want that … They’ve crossed the line now and let a genie out of a bottle that’s going to be hard to put back in place…”
He urged for bipartisan efforts to prevent such situations in the future. “Down the road, we’re going to have to look at a way Democrats and Republicans, hopefully together, can prevent this kind of thing from happening again in the future. We cannot become one of those countries where people, once they leave office, are targeted through the court system by their political opponents. That’s what happens in Peru. That’s what’s happened in Brazil. That’s what’s happened in all these countries. It cannot happen here. And that is the direction we are headed right now with what’s happened here today,” he concluded.
