While there was little to indicate that the prosecution of former President Donald Trump was particularly unbiased, few expected any New York officials to come right out and say it.
Likely even fewer expected the "quiet part out loud" moment to come from longtime Trump critic and former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, whose comments were outlined in The National Review.
With the political fallout from Trump's felony convictions in the state of new York turning out to be a spectacular failure for any of his political rivals, many have asked what was the true cost of the venture.
Cuomo made his comments on Friday, saying that the "hush-money" case that found Trump the subject of prosecution by Prosecutor Alvin Bragg would never have been put into motion if it were Trump on trial.
“If his name was not Donald Trump and if he wasn’t running for president — I’m the former AG of New York — I’m telling you that case never would’ve been brought,” the former governor, who resigned after facing a slew of sexual-harassment allegations, told Bill Maher on Real Time.
According to Cuomo, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg should not have brought the case against Trump. Cuomo argued that by doing so, Bragg has diminished public faith in the criminal justice system. Maher was among the people who heard this.
“New Yorkers said — 66 percent said — the justice system is politicized. And there’s nobody in New York who likes Trump,” Cuomo said.
“And still, 66 percent said the justice system is politicized. That’s why I think he’s not paying the same price for these verdicts, because they believe it’s political.”
In his description of the "real threat to democracy," the former governor of New York made reference to the fact that President Joe Biden has made it a habit to predict that the outcome of the election in 2024 will be determined by the state of democracy in the United States.
He asserted that “when you have this country believing you’re playing politics with the justice system and you’re trying to put people in jail or convict them for political reasons.”
According to a recent survey conducted by ABC News and Ipsos, 47% of American citizens believe that the conviction of Donald Trump on 34 counts related to his payments to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels in 2016 was politically motivated.
A number of recent polls appear to provide support for Cuomo's assertions. The "hush-money" conviction will not have an effect on the votes that people cast in November, according to forty percent of respondents to a poll conducted by Politico and Ipsos in June. This constitutes a plurality.
Despite the fact that Trump's head-to-head numbers versus Biden have fallen
since the conviction, his legal troubles have prompted a large wave of fundraising; as a result, he has subsequently closed the financial gap that existed between his campaign and that of Biden.
