May 31, 2024 10:42 AM UTC

Friday Updates: Donald Trump is a Convicted Felon

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• by: Colorado Pols

[NOTE: We’ll update this space to continue discussing Thursday’s historic verdict in New York that made Donald Trump the first former President in American history to become a convicted felon.]

The verdict is in, and the whining has begun.

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He’s #1! He’s #1!

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As The Washington Post reports, Trump is getting an outpouring of support from [checks notes] Russia?

The Kremlin defended Donald Trump a day after he became the first former U.S. president convicted of a crime, suggesting without evidence that Trump’s trial was politically motivated…

…“We do not like it very much when somebody from the outside world says something about the decision of our courts. And we, in turn, try not to comment,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with reporters Friday. He later added: “But in general, if we talk about Trump, there is a de facto elimination of political rivals by all possible legal and illegal means, it is obvious. The whole world can see it with the naked eye.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has a history of persecuting his political opponents, has claimed in recent months that the criminal cases against Trump were part of “the persecution of a political rival for political reasons.”

This speaks for itself, no?

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As POLITICO reports, Trump’s campaign for President has been warning Republicans NOT to use his conviction for fundraising purposes. Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams, who is also running for Congress in CO-05, apparently did not get the memo:

Trump’s political operation views the guilty verdict in the New York hush money trial as a small-dollar goldmine — so much so that they are warning other Republicans not to raise money off it and siphon off money that could otherwise go to the Trump campaign.

“Any Republican elected official, candidate or party committee siphoning money from President Trump’s donors are no better than Judge Merchan’s daughter,” said Trump co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita. “We’re keeping a list, we’ll be checking it twice and we aren’t in the spirit of Christmas.”…

…Some candidates, such as Colorado Republican Dave Williams, have been looking to direct proceeds to themselves.

Williams, who is running for a congressional seat and has received Trump’s endorsement, sent out a fundraising message in which he derided the conviction as a “disgrace and mockery of the principles our nation was founded on.” The message included a red button asking donors to “STAND WITH TRUMP & DAVE.” But after clicking on it, contributors are sent to a landing page in which donations are solely sent to Williams. The Williams campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

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Here’s something we can all agree on: This is a solid lede from Shawn McCreesh of The New York Times:

Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.

For the first time in his 77 years, Mr. Trump was a felon. Thirty-four times over, he was told. It was unambiguous. It was certain. It was happening.

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Locally, Ernest Luning has a good rundown of verdict reactions from Colorado politicians for the publication formerly known as the Colorado Statesman. The short version is that Colorado Republicans are complaining about a great injustice while Democrats are pointing out that nobody is above the law.