Democratic strategist David Axelrod said former President Trump and his supporters are “inviting violence” following Trump’s recent conviction in the hush-money case.
“The thing about the apocalyptic language, the chorus, that we’re hearing from all of this is that they are really inviting violence, which is a big concern of mine, and Trump has been totally unreserved in suggesting that that might be appropriate,” Axelrod said Friday on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
“I mean, that’s what he’s always implying,” Axelrod continued, “that’s why he got in trouble on January 6th, and I think he’s doing it again now because he’s even more desperate than he was then.”
Trump became the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime after a jury found him guilty on Thursday of all charges of falsifying business records in connection with hush money paid by his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Shortly after the jury’s verdict was read, Trump blasted the trial outside the courtroom.
“This has been a rigged and dishonorable trial. The real verdict will be given by the American people on November 5th. The American people know what happened here, everybody knows what happened here,” Trump said.
Many prominent Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), criticized the ruling.
“It’s horrible. What this case shows is that they can go after a former president on these ridiculous charges and get a conviction, they can go after anybody,” Rubio said Thursday on Fox News’ “Hannity.”
“And most people can’t afford to fight these diseases.”
Axelrod also said he would be “shocked” if Trump received a prison sentence in the hush-money case, but said he believed “putting a former president in jail, especially for a case like this, is an alarming thing for our country.”
