Senate Republicans have signed on to a letter taking a stand against Democrats’ efforts to prosecute former President Donald Trump. In the aftermath of the verdict against the former president in the Manhattan trial, lawmakers vowed to hinder Democratic legislative initiatives as a rebuke to President Joe Biden and others involved in the weaponization of the state against their political opponent.
The letter, signed by Republican Sens. Mike Lee, JD Vance, Tommy Tuberville, Eric Schmitt, Marsha Blackburn, Rick Scott, Roger Marshall, and Marco Rubio, accused the White House of making “a mockery of the rule of law,” and fundamentally altering “our politics in un-American ways.”
The lawmakers declared they are “unwilling to aid and abet this White House in its project to tear this country apart”:
To that end, we will not 1) allow any increase to non-security related funding for this administration, or any appropriations bill which funds partisan lawfare; 2) vote to confirm this administration’s political and judicial appointees; and 3) allow expedited consideration and passage of Democrat legislation or authorities that are not directly relevant to the safety of the American people.
In a post on X, Sen. Lee wrote that “[s]trongly worded statements are not enough” and that “those who turned our judicial system into a political cudgel must be held accountable.”
It is not yet clear whether Republican lawmakers in the House will follow suit.
This is one of the latest developments coming from the conviction of the former president, who has already vowed to appeal the verdict. The jury on Thursday found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying documents to conceal payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, with whom he allegedly had a one-night stand in 2006.
The effort to use the justice system against Trump appears to have already backfired. Shortly after the verdict was announced, Trump campaign ad RNC donation websites crashed due to the number of outraged citizens wishing to donate to the former president:
Moments after the jury convicted former President Donald Trump for supposedly falsifying business records, both his campaign donation site and the Republican National Committee's donation page crashed. The verdict appears to have sparked a massive response from his supporters, who rushed to donate.
Several users on social media announced that the pages went down shortly after the verdict was handed down. Since that time, the sites have been online intermittently.
Even further, a poll released after the verdict revealed that Trump’s favorability rating has climbed:
But now, after the verdict, J.L. Partners has taken a poll of likely voters for the Daily Mail. Prepare for the Democrats to pull their hair out over this one. We warned them.
Of those who said the 34 guilty counts had changed their view of Donald Trump, 22 percent said they now had a more favorable rating compared with 16 percent who said they viewed him more negatively.
That six-point net positive result is another sign of the way the businessman-turned-politician seems able to ride out crises that would sink anyone else. [....]
In particular, the numbers show a four-point net positive impact among independent voters, the group that could decide who is the next president in November.
If this letter, along with the backlash against Trump's conviction, is any indication, this is just the beginning of the fallout from the trial.