Fox News Panelists Insist Guilty Verdict Helps Trump’s Campaign: ‘A Huge Uptick in Turnout’
Three Fox News panelists claimed that the guilty verdict handed down in Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial will be a boon to his presidential campaign.
Trump was found guilty on Thursday on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records he faced. The former president arranged for hush money payments to be made to prevent his extramarital affairs from coming to light during the 2016 campaign.
Republicans have slammed the charges against Trump and criticized the verdict after it was delivered. Nevertheless, some insist Trump’s prosecution will help him return to the White House.
“It’s not surprising, but I’m very disappointed,” said Hugh Hewitt on Thursday’s Special Report on Fox News. “It’s actually a travesty of the justice system.”
Still, Hewitt said Trump will benefit.
“So, it’s a travesty and politically, I think that’s going to help President Trump,” he went on. “You sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind. I’ve already seen the donation notices coming out. It’s an avalanche of donations to Donald Trump. And I expect the whirlwind will be a huge uptick in turnout and contributions.”
Host Bret Baier noted that the Trump campaign’s donation page was down.
“I’m kind of surprised at the verdict,” said Democratic strategist Leslie Marshall. “One, I didn’t think it was gonna be guilty on all 34 counts. Two, the reason I don’t think this is politically motivated, Bret, and I said it before and I’ll say it again, is because I would agree with Hugh that this helps Donald Trump. It helps check-writing and money coming into his campaign. It helps with people who weren’t gonna support him to say, ‘I’m 100% all in now.'”
Marshall then seemingly undercut her own argument by citing a poll showing that “guilty or not, it doesn’t really make a huge difference. I think if anything, it could hurt the former president just a little bit because he’s going to be campaigning on the ‘Woe is me’ platform and I’m just not sure how much steam that has.”
Baier then played a clip of Trump speaking in the courthouse after the verdict was read.
“It’s just a disgrace,” Trump declared. “And we’ll keep fighting. We’ll fight to the end and we’ll win.”
“So, he’s clearly going to use this to his advantage, rhetorically on the campaign trail, thinks it helps,” Baier stated.
“It does,” Byron York said. “He’s talking to his supporters right there and at his rallies, he’ll sometimes say, ‘They’re not coming after me. They’re coming after you. I’m just in the way.'”
Watch above via Fox News.
