Former President Donald Trump drew defense from an unlikely source this week on the day of his arraignment.
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, the only Republican in the upper chamber to back Trump’s impeachment twice, condemned the indictment by a Manhattan prosecutor as an “overreach” that “sets a dangerous precedent for criminalizing political opponents.”
“I believe President Trump’s character and conduct make him unfit for office,” Romney said in a statement. “Even so, I believe the New York prosecutor has stretched to reach felony criminal charges in order to fit a political agenda.”
Meanwhile, it’s been almost 48 hours, yet the Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has said nothing.
Trump was charged last Thursday over hush-money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought new life to the case after prosecutors previously refused to press charges. After this week unsealing the 34-count felony indictment, which altogether carries a maximum 136-year prison sentence, prosecutors revealed they were pursuing a novel legal theory regarding alleged falsifying of business records for the purpose of influencing an election.
“Bragg has done nothing more than replicated the same flawed theory dozens of times,” wrote George Washington Law Professor Jonathan Turley. “This is where math and the law meet. If you multiply any number by zero, it is still zero.”
The case is so weak, even a dozen liberal law professors and Trump antagonists called the prosecution a dead end.
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