The Supreme Court should address former President Donald Trump’s recent conviction in New York, according to Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL).
The Florida lawmaker told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that the high court should “step in” after Trump was convicted by a Manhattan jury of 34 counts of falsifying business records.
“The only ability for this to be overturned is going to be happening two or three years from now. We all know this,” Donalds said. “That’s why what happened in lower Manhattan was to interfere with an election, which is why Speaker Johnson, myself included, and many Americans believe the Supreme Court should step in to this matter.”
Donalds, a Brooklyn native on Trump’s shortlist for vice president, also lamented the New York court system, saying it was being politicized.
Trump was convicted last month over a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, and he faces sentencing on July 11. In New York, he is able to file an appeal notice within 30 days of his sentencing, but he will have months to submit his appeal arguments after that.
If the Supreme Court were to weigh in on Trump’s case in New York, it would not be until after the appellate process has been exhausted in the state. Trump’s appeal would first go through an intermediary appellate court, and then it could potentially be taken to the state’s highest court, the New York Court of Appeals.
Donalds also blasted Trump’s case, brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, as a “violation of [Trump’s] constitutional rights.”
“They didn’t even identify the ‘crime’ until the very end of the process, which is a violation of constitutional norms. Judge [Juan] Merchan did not do that,” Donalds said.
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Donalds was referencing how, in addition to falsifying business records, the jury was required to find that Trump violated a New York election law by conspiring to overturn the 2020 election through unlawful means.
The jury did not have to agree on what the unlawful means were, and some legal experts have said this could be one of Trump’s grounds for appeal of his conviction.
