The US senator from Utah says the charges against the 45th president set a “dangerous precedent”
Senator Mitt Romney speaks to reporters in the US Capitol building in Washington, DC, February 13, 2023. © Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images / AFP
Criminal charges brought against former US President Donald Trump undermine the public’s faith in the justice system, Senator Mitt Romney said on Tuesday. He argued that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg overstepped his mandate in handling the case.
On Tuesday, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony criminal charges during his arraignment in a Manhattan court.
He surrendered for arrest immediately before being arraigned, but was released from the courthouse the same day.
“I believe President Trump’s character and conduct make him unfit for office. Even so, I believe the New York prosecutor has stretched to reach felony criminal charges in order to fit a political agenda,” Romney, a senator from Utah and the Republican Party’s presidential candidate in 2012, said in a statement on his website.
Romney said the jury will examine the evidence in Trump’s case, but “the American voters will ultimately render their own judgment on the former President’s political future.”
Read more
According to the indictment by a grand jury, Trump falsified business records when authorizing then-personal attorney Michael Cohen to make a $130,000 hush money payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims she had sex with Trump in 2006 when he was already married to his current wife, Melania. The alleged payment took place when Trump was a candidate in the 2016 presidential election that he eventually won.
Trump denied having an affair with Daniels and claimed that he was unaware of any payments made to her. He insists that the prosecution is politically motivated.
“The only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it,” Trump said in a speech at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. He added that “this fake case was brought only to interfere with the upcoming 2024 election.”
Trump failed to secure a second term in 2020 after losing to Joe Biden. He formally launched his bid for the 2024 election in November and has held several campaign rallies across the country.
