Backlash from Donald Trump’s GOP rivals in the 2024 race came on Tuesday after a jury found the former president responsible for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s.
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy wondered if there would have been a trial if the accused had been someone other than Trump.
FILE: Former President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“Based on the sheer timing of the allegations – that the alleged infringement occurred in the mid-1990s and that Ms. Carroll did not prosecute until 2019-2022, well beyond the normal statute of limitations for the underlying offence, and amid a series of other legal charges against Trump for other old allegations – this seems to be just another part of the establishment’s anaphylactic response against his main political allergen: Donald Trump” , Ramaswamy said.
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is interviewed by Fox News Digital, May 4, 2023 in Durham, New Hampshire (FoxNews)
Ramaswamy, a 37-year-old first-time candidate and multi-millionaire entrepreneur who announced his candidacy in late February, said the 2024 presidential race would be easier without Trump, but lamented the weaponization of “the law with age-old allegations.” several decades of undermining” political opponents.
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“I want to win this race by showing voters how I’m going to take the America First movement beyond Trump, and I can’t wait to take him on the debate stage,” Ramaswamy said.
Former two-term Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson and Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson took a different approach from his young rival, saying the jury’s decision should be taken seriously.
FILE: Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson speaks to guests at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Spring Kickoff April 22, 2023 at Clive, Iowa. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
“In my more than 25 years of experience in the courtroom, I have seen how cavalier and arrogant disregard for the rule of law can backfire,” Hutchinson said in a statement. communicated to Fox News. “The jury’s verdict should be treated seriously and is another example of Donald Trump’s indefensible behavior.”
A jury found Trump liable on Tuesday for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996, awarding him $5 million.
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The verdict was announced in a federal courtroom in New York on the first day of deliberations. Jurors rejected Carroll’s claim that she was raped, but found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation of Carroll after making her allegations public.
Trump chose not to attend the civil trial and was absent when the verdict was read.
Paul Steinhauser of Fox News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.