Within minutes of a jury convicting former President Donald Trump on 34 counts of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal, members of Wyoming’s congressional delegation and other state political leaders made it clear they will continue to support him.
Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis and Rep. Harriet Hageman all said the trial represented the weaponization of government against Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee who is leading in many polls against President Joe Biden. Wyoming’s top two elected state officials, Gov. Mark Gordon and Secretary of State Chuck Gray, made similar statements.
U.S. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo) speaks during a June 2, 2021 press conference announcing efforts to advance a Natrium reactor demonstration project in Wyoming. (Michael Cummo/Wyoming Tribune Eagle/Wyoming News Exchange)
Hageman, an attorney who was picked by Trump to take on one of his top political rivals, then-Rep. Liz Cheney, criticized the judge who oversaw the case for blocking certain witnesses and testimony and for allowing “slanted” jury instructions.
“This entire infuriating episode is the liberal Democrats’ desperate gasp to win a presidential election that they will ultimately lose,” Hageman said in a statement sent to WyoFile. “The American people will see this for what it is, Donald Trump will ultimately have the verdict overturned on appeal, and we must all ensure that this abuse of the legal system is never allowed to happen again.”
On its second day of deliberations, a jury in New York City unanimously found Trump guilty on all counts. The verdict followed a trial that focused on whether he falsified documents to disguise hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep a sexual encounter she says they had from becoming public ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The trial featured testimony from Daniels, Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, and David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer.
Trump carried Wyoming by the largest margins of any state in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, and the former president continues to enjoy considerable support here.
Thousands turned out to hear former President Donald Trump speak in Casper May 28, 2022. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile)
Barrasso, who faces his own primary election in August, was quick to defend Trump after the verdict, saying the New York case “has never been about justice.”
“Elections are decided in voting booths, not courtrooms,” he wrote on Twitter. “President Trump will keep fighting to get America back on track.”
WyoFile sent Barrasso questions in light of his tweet. As of press time, he had not responded.
Lummis also criticized the criminal case against Trump, which she termed “a biased political persecution.”
“This is a dark day for our Republic and does irreparable damage to Americans’ trust in our judicial system by undermining the Constitution for political gain,” she said in response to a series of questions sent to her by WyoFile.
Governor responds
While Hageman and Barrasso have been fervent in their support of Trump, Gordon’s approach to the former president has been more measured. Gordon, notably, did not attend Trump’s May 2022 rally in Casper in support of Hageman, and the governor did not take sides in that contest. At that rally, Trump took a shot at Gordon for not doing enough to stop the practice of crossover voting, which usually occurs in Wyoming when Democrats change their voter registration to support moderate Republicans in the primary.
But Gordon was quick Thursday to criticize the criminal case against Trump.
“I am extraordinarily disappointed that our justice system is being used so obviously in an attempt to influence our elections,” he wrote in a tweet. “Voters will choose the next President, not a New York jury. This case has damaged Americans’ confidence in an impartial judiciary.”
Gov. Mark Gordon speaks Thursday, April 4, 2024, at a meeting of Turning Point USA’s University of Wyoming chapter. Gordon shared his views on energy and carbon with the students. (Ashton J. Hacke/WyoFile)
That brought a rebuke from Senate Minority Leader Chris Rothfuss (D-Laramie), who answered the governor with his own tweet.
“I am extraordinarily disappointed that our @GovernorGordon is questioning the #RuleOfLaw of the State of New York with no evidence, analysis or justification,” the state senator wrote. “A jury of 12 unanimously found the defendant guilty on 34 felony counts. What did they get wrong?”
Unprecedented moment
Trump is due to be sentenced July 11, only four days before the Republican National Convention, where he is expected to be formally nominated as the GOP’s presidential candidate. He is the first former president to be convicted of a felony.
“It’s a constitutional crisis whether you like Trump or not,” former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson told WyoFile, adding “I can’t imagine the disruption that will take place” in the presidential process.
As a lawyer, Simpson, said, he also knows how difficult it can be to get a unanimous conviction, and was surprised that it wasn’t a hung jury.
“It’s a heavy, heavy judgment on the man.”
Simpson, who has been involved in politics since the ’60s and worked under several U.S. presidents, never thought he would see anything like this.
“After a lifetime of being in politics and then a lifetime of being in the law, I’m just surprised by the weight of it all,” he said, adding that it “leaves a perilous course for us.”
Former Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat, indicated support for the jury system, regardless of outcome. Freudenthal served as U.S. attorney for Wyoming before becoming the state’s top elected official.
“I’ve spent enough time as an attorney that I have great respect for juries, and I’m willing to say that — no matter what they decide,” he told WyoFile.
More reaction
Other Wyoming conservatives were quick to back Trump after Thursday’s verdict, which Secretary of State Gray called “bogus, disgusting, and a catastrophe.”
“President Trump is 100% innocent,” he said. “This ‘verdict’ will be overturned on appeal and at the ballot box.”
The Wyoming Freedom Caucus, a group of hard-line Republican state lawmakers, called Thursday a shameful day in American history and accused Democrats of using the case to try and hold onto the reins of power.
“Anyone who defends these actions is no friend to our Republic,” the group wrote in a statement.
WyoFile’s Katie Klingsporn and Dustin Bleizeffer contributed to this report.
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