Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) reacted to the guilty verdict of former President Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon, blasting Judge Juan Merchan for his biased treatment of Trump and for misconduct in the case.
Cruz called the unprecedented prosecution against a former president and frontrunner in 2024 a "grotesque abuse" of the justice system.
He added,
It is a travesty of justice that has unfolded in New York. And I’m heartbroken because the rule of law matters in America. You and I both have spent our adult lives fighting to defend the rule of law, and we have a justice system that is supposed to ensure equal justice under law for everyone. Today, the New York justice system made itself a global laughingstock. This was a political decision that every banana republic in the world recognizes. And they know exactly what this was.
Cruz characterized the case against Trump as a politically motivated attempt to get him out of the way as a viable candidate in 2024 and expressed disappointment that not even one juror could see through the desperate attempt to sideline a political opponent.
He said,
This was partisan Democrats lashing out at their political opponent. And I got to say, Greta, I held out hope that a 12-person jury, there would be one, one who would hold out and say, ‘I will not participate in this fraud. I will not participate in this political attack.’ And sadly, there was not even one.
Cruz agreed with Greta Van Susteren that cameras in the courtroom would have been a way to at least keep Merchan honest in how he handled the case.
“I think there really should have been cameras in this courtroom, in particular, to see the absolute abuse of power by this trial judge,” Cruz said. “This trial judge, I think, has diminished the credibility of every judge in America."
Cruz called Merchan a "partisan" who committed multiple reversible errors that would see the case overturned on appeal.
This judge was a partisan," he said. "He should have worn a Biden campaign hat while he sat at the bench. His rulings were absurd. I got to say, those jury instructions — it was obvious he had one objective, and it was to get Donald Trump. Now, that’s not a judge’s job. It does ensure for reversible error. And I believe this decision will be reversed on appeal. I think it is a certainty that it will be reversed on appeal.”
The objective of Democrats who ran the prosecution and of Merchan was clearly to be able to call Trump a "convicted felon" during the campaign, Cruz said.
Any appeal or reversal may not happen until after the election, which gives the opposition months to brand Trump a felon.
“You and I are going to hear those words repeated by Democrats and the corporate media about 1 billion times between now and Election Day," Cruz said. "That was the whole point is to scream felon, felon, felon, felon. This was politics and not law.”
It remains to be seen whether the conviction will continue the trend of bringing more support to Trump rather than less.
In a possible early sign of what may come, the Trump fundraising site Win Red had so much traffic just after the verdict that it crashed Thursday evening. Whether the outrage will be strong enough or last long enough to sweep Trump into office in November is still anyone's guess.
