MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow said the jury should be thanked and protected during her network’s coverage of former President Donald Trump being found guilty on all counts in a unanimous decision by a Manhattan jury in his business record trial.
Maddow said, “Listen, this is unanimous on all counts. This is a definitive and this is an irreversible verdict. He can appeal. I’m sure he will appeal. But this is everything that the prosecution asked for, from a jury that by all counts took this thing very, very seriously. We counted the deliberation hours down here. The test here for us, as a country, is not about what happens on appeal. And is not about what happens on sentencing. The test for us now as a count is whether or not this former president and his allies will have succeeded in trying to undermine the rule of law so that people reject this as a legitimate function of the rule of law in our country. They have tried to delegitimize this judge. They have tried to delegitimize the court and delegitimize the laws that he’s charged under. The people involved in bringing this case have been threatened and intimidated and have everything brought to bear against them in a way that was designed to delegitimize the process of the American people. It’s now in the hands the American people to decide if we’ll accept those efforts.”
She added, “We know what it is to put a former president on trial and see that trial to fruition. That is something that was hypothetical before we ever had this guy as a former president. But now, we have lived through it, and we know that the court process can work. A defendant who is a former president can be tried. Again, the appeals process will go on. The sentencing process will go on and those will all be pressure points. But the legal system in this country treats any former president as any citizen. We’ve seen that. this jury deserves to be thanked for their efforts and to be protected, to be protected from the kinds of attacks and incrimination of the process.”
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