Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said the guilty verdict handed down to former President Trump this week will only make him stronger and that a conviction could backfire on the left.
Gingrich joined John Catsmatidis on WABC 770 AM’s “Cats Roundtable” to discuss the jury’s decision to find Trump guilty of all 34 felony counts against him for falsifying business records related to hush money paid to cover up an alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Gingrich praised the former president’s response after the verdict.
“Trump handled all of this with so much dignity and patience that I think it actually enhanced his reputation and made people realize that this guy was taking a tremendous amount of beating just for the right to try to save the country,” he said.
“In a strange way,” Gingrich argued, the hush money trial and convictions “may have a counterproductive effect on the left, leaving them weaker than they would have been if they hadn’t paid the hush money.” [had] I’ve been on this path, and that’s a big factor.”
Gingrich slammed the verdict as a “false conviction” covered up by “fake news.”
“I think we’re at a real crisis point right now, with the most false case ever brought against a presidential candidate,” Gingrich said, “and, of course, the fake news has created a false story about Trump’s conviction.”
The former chairman blamed Trump’s conviction on the Biden campaign, which he said was trying to remove Trump from the election. The Biden campaign had no involvement in the case. Trump was convicted by a 12-judge jury in New York.
The former president has criticized the conviction and vowed to appeal. Speaking after the verdict was handed down, Trump said the “real verdict” would be handed down on Election Day.
The Trump campaign said it has raised more than $50 million in donations since Thursday.
Gingrich argued that the “stunning consequence” of the ruling was that some Republicans and independents were outraged and wanted to get financially involved.
“I think people just looked up and said, ‘This is bad enough that I have to get involved,'” Gingrich said.
