Former Vice President Mike Pence has criticized the decision of a Manhattan jury to indict former President Donald Trump, which he called a »scandal» and an »example of political criminalization» in the United States during an interview on CNN.
The former right-hand man of Trump, possible future Republican candidate for the presidential elections, keeps some distance from the former president since the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, but has not hesitated to defend his former boss: »This looks like a new example of the kind of two-tier system that Americans are fed up with».
»I think the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is a scandal, and for millions of Americans it’s nothing more than a political persecution by a lawyer who literally ran for office with a campaign promising to indict the former president,» he said.
He also criticized »the obsession of the media with these investigations of Donald Trump», claiming that Americans do not understand the interest »when they are having a bad time».
»I think Americans are going to see this, and they will realize that it is a new example of political criminalization in this country, and another example of the kind of drama that traps Washington and makes it impossible to solve the real problems,» he said.
COHEN BELIEVES THE IMPEACHMENT IS TRUMP’S »BIGGEST FEAR» Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, has also spoken to CNN, where he said that Trump will be »enraged» by the impeachment: »He wants to make people think he’s very strong, but he’s very thin-skinned and has a very fragile ego».
»This is his biggest fear, that they will take a mugshot of him, and from now on he will have a criminal D next to his name for the rest of his life,» he added.
For Cohen, Trump »never thought» that the indictment would come, and he would be »furious about all the mistakes that so many people around him have made, because all the advice they gave him has led him to this». »And as we all know, Donald is not a person who accepts his own responsibility, it always has to be someone else’s fault,» he has assured.
Cohen ended up in prison after pleading guilty to violating campaign finance law and perjuring himself in Congress, after assuring the court that he had been ordered by Trump to deliver the money and that he had covered up for the then-presidential candidate as a matter of loyalty. Cohen was released from prison in 2021.
Trump is expected to appear next Tuesday to turn himself in for the indictment, the District Attorney’s office has confirmed that they are holding discussions with his legal team to plan the next steps following the indictment of the former president.
After his arrest, it is very likely, according to U.S. media, that he will be fingerprinted and a mugshot will be taken, which could be released to the press. This will be followed by a preliminary hearing in which Trump will be able to hear the charges against him and appeal them, and it is possible that during the time of these statements Trump will be released from custody. After the hearing, it will be decided whether or not the case proceeds to trial.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
