New Jersey pols react to Trump verdict: ‘A sad day’

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 30: Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears in court for his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 30, 2024 in New York City. Judge Juan Merchan gave the jury instructions, and deliberations are entering their second day. The former president faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images)

Both Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Republican state Sen. Mike Testa said the guilty verdicts a New York jury handed down to Donald Trump made Thursday “a sad day” — though predictably for different reasons.

For Sherrill, who was elected to the House in the 2018 Democratic wave that was largely seen as a rebuke to Trump’s first two years in office, Thursday was a sad day in our nation’s history because it represents the first time an American president has been convicted of a crime — but, she added, “it is also a critical day for the rule of law.”

“The former president must be held accountable for all his illegal actions, and it is paramount that we protect the judicial process and our democratic institutions,” Sherrill said.

For Testa, the sadness of the day was because of “persecution via prosecution.”

“I will be happily awaiting the appeal of this verdict. There appears to have been a sundry of errors which are ripe for appeal,” he said. “I am praying for President Trump, his family, and for the United States of America.”

Trump was found guilty of all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to a porn star to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for president in November, called the proceedings a “rigged, disgraceful trial.”

Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat, said the verdict “has reaffirmed that no one is above the law, not even a former president.”

“The fact is that former President Trump was afforded his due process rights and was able to mount a full defense in a court of law, like every criminal defendant should. The 34 guilty verdicts in President Trump’s case mean that a jury of his peers, after impartially reviewing the evidence presented and having sworn an oath to perform their duties faithfully, unanimously determined beyond a reasonable doubt — 34 separate times — that the former president broke the law,” Booker said.

Jack Ciattarelli, who is seeking the GOP nomination for governor next year , said the American people will render their own verdict in November.

“Regardless of what anyone thinks about Donald Trump, would these charges have ever been brought if he wasn’t running for President? Legal experts on both sides are saying that these convictions are likely to be overturned on appeal. I agree.”

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