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Trump was tried fairly
To the Editor:
After Mr. Trump's recent conviction on 34 felony counts, he and his supporters have attempted to portray both his trial and conviction as "corrupt," "rigged," and a "sham." Notably, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said "This was a purely political exercise, not a legal one."
Speaker Johnson's assertion that the case against Mr. Trump had a political basis, rather than a legal one, is troubling. The Speaker seems to be overlooking the part played here by the ordinary Americans who made up the grand jury and trial jury. These citizens faced an awesome responsibility, and an unenviable task - the objective evaluation of all facts and evidence presented in a case involving a former President.
Whether or not felony charges were brought in the first place was the responsibility of the grand jury. It heard evidence from the prosecutor against Mr. Trump, and then had to decide whether the evidence was sufficient to charge him with a crime. If the grand jury felt it was, then an indictment would be issued. If the evidence was insufficient, the grand jury could have voted to recommend that lesser charges be filed against the defendant, or that the charges be completely dismissed. In Mr. Trump's case, the grand jury decided that the evidence warranted indictments being issued, and he was formally charged with 34 counts of "Falsifying Business Records In The First Degree…with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof." Notably, the grand jury made this decision after looking at evidence of Mr. Trump's actions, not his politics.
Another jury was chosen for Mr. Trump's trial from a pool of 500 randomly chosen Manhattan voters. Trump supporters have claimed that the jury was biased, but the point of jury selection is to identify people who can be impartial in evaluating the evidence. During Mr. Trump's jury selection, dozens of potential jurors were dismissed after saying that they didn't believe they could be fair (according to the AP). Additionally, the defense team was allowed to excuse certain potential jurors without providing a reason by using a limited number of "peremptory challenges." To help identify individuals who might be biased against his client, Trump attorney Todd Blanche questioned the potential jurors about their view of Mr. Trump and examined their social media posts as well. Mr. Trump himself was also active in giving his opinion; Blanche told Fox News that Mr. Trump was "very much involved. He was right there with the whole team talking about the potential jurors."
After five days of evaluation by the prosecution and defense teams, 12 jurors were selected. At the end of the trial, those jurors had to unanimously agree that Mr. Trump was guilty of any felony count against him for him to be found guilty. If any one juror held a reasonable doubt about the evidence, then Mr. Trump would have been acquitted on that count. But, after hearing weeks of testimony from prosecution and defense witnesses, the jury found Mr. Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts. Again, these verdicts were rendered after looking at evidence of Mr. Trump's actions, not his politics.
The assertion, then, that members of two different juries, chosen from random jury pools, made their decisions based on political bias is unwarranted. Mr. Trump was treated by the jurors (whom he helped to select) as any other American would have been - as someone responsible for his actions and subject to the rule of law. It is reprehensible that these jurors are now being criticized and blamed for Mr. Trump's conviction when they were only doing their civic duty. But this "blame game" is entirely consistent with Mr. Trump's brand, because to justify his behavior he needs to discredit and delegitimize any person or institution that calls him to account.
Mr. Trump appears to believe that he is above the law, but the jury verdict showed that he is not. Prosecution is not persecution when your actions warrant it, and Mr. Trump is now a convicted felon -- with no one to blame but himself.
Philip Loewen
Lewistown