Minnesota Democrat Rep. Dean Phillips urged New York’s Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul to pardon Donald Trump after a Manhattan jury found the former president guilty of all 34 felony charges in the hush money trial.
Because Trump was convicted in state court and not federal court, a presidential pardon is not an option. The only clemency available to Trump is through the governor.
Phillips, who ran an unsuccessful primary challenge against President Joe Biden, has been a staunch opponent of Donald Trump. When he announced his bid for the Democrat nomination, Phillips argued that President Biden was not up to the job of stopping the former president from returning to the White House.
In a June 1 post on X, Phillips conceded that the presumptive Republican nominee was “a serial liar,” “philanderer” and cheat. He accused Trump of instigating an “insurrection” and described him as “a six-time declarer of corporate bankruptcy” who “thrives on portraying himself as a victim.”
Despite all of that, Phillips urged Governor Hochul to pardon Trump for the sake of the country.
Unsurprisingly, anti-Trump X users hammered the Democrat congressman, accusing him of being “stupid” for wanting the former president pardoned.
In response to the barrage of attacks, Phillips followed up on his post, arguing that it was “stupid” to allow Trump to become a “martyr” for paying hush money to a former adult film actress. He warned that the conviction would be an “electoral boost” to the GOP candidate because it was “energizing” Trump’s base while boosting the Trump campaign’s fundraising efforts.
Since taking office in 2021, Governor Hochul has granted clemency to roughly 70 individuals, either issuing outright pardons or communing sentences.
In May, Governor Hochul commuted two sentences and pardoned 11 people. She said at the time that clemency required “intense deliberation and consultation” with prosecutors, police, victims’ rights groups, “and other stakeholders.”