Kremlin comments on Trump conviction
Political opponents of presidential candidate Donald Trump are clearly seeking to get rid of him ahead of the upcoming US election in November, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Friday. It comes after Trump was found guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in New York this week.
When asked about the Kremlin’s stance on the jury verdict, Peskov declined to comment on the decision itself. “We really do not like it when some outside powers say something about our court rulings,” he said, adding that Moscow equally tries to “avoid commenting” on foreign court decisions, including this particular case.
However, the Russian president’s spokesman still stated that the situation the former US president has found himself in “clearly” shows that his opponents will stop at nothing to prevent him from securing another term in the White House.
“It is obvious that what happens [in the US] is a [process] of getting political competitors out of the way through all possible legal and illegal means,” Peskov said, adding that the whole world was witnessing this.
Prosecutors in the New York trial alleged that Trump had illegally covered up a hush-money payment that his former attorney, Michael Cohen, made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels in the weeks before the 2016 presidential election. The payment was supposedly intended to ensure her silence about an affair that allegedly occurred a decade before.
The former president denied having an affair with Daniels, and his legal team vowed to appeal Thursday’s verdict. Trump is currently the Republican Party’s presumptive candidate for the November election. He is expected to be officially nominated at a party convention in July.
The jury decision sparked an angry reaction from the politician’s fellow party members. Texas Governor Greg Abbott branded the trial a “kangaroo court.” House Speaker Mike Johnson called it “lawfare” and accused the administration of President Joe Biden – Trump’s potential rival in the election – of “weaponizing” the American justice system.
