Retired federal judge J. Michael Luttig, a longtime conservative jurist and vocal opponent of the former president, said American voters are unfazed by President-elect Trump's various misdeeds.
“American voters don't care who is in the White House as individuals,” Luttig said Wednesday night during a panel discussion hosted by the Rule of Law Institute.
”In this case, they don't care what this man has done over the past eight years,” he said, “and they care less that he is the first American president to be indicted for serious crimes against the United States.” Maybe they don't care…” he said. They don't care about his views on women. They don't care about any of this. ”
This is one of many lessons to be learned from the presidential election, he said, noting that Republicans believe “nothing went wrong” from Trump's previous term and that Trump ran with a “blank slate” in the U.S. He explained that he succeeded in convincing voters.
“And the American people bought it,” he said. “Hook, line, sinker”
Trump has faced a series of legal issues since leaving the White House, including four criminal indictments and several civil matters.
The former president was found guilty in New York on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments to an adult film actress with whom he allegedly had an affair before the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors portrayed the plot as an attempt to undermine state power. Contest results.
He is also charged in two federal cases with attempting to subvert the 2020 presidential election and mishandling classified documents, and is charged in Georgia with attempting to overturn that state's presidential election results. It was done.
In the wake of his election victory, those lawsuits appear to be falling apart.
A federal judge last week granted a request from special counsel Jack Smith to postpone all deadlines in Trump's federal election destruction case. Smith on Wednesday asked a federal appeals court to suspend proceedings challenging the dismissal of the classified documents case.
In Georgia, the case against Mr. Trump and several allies has been suspended indefinitely, while an appeals court considers defense challenges unrelated to the election.
And in Trump's only New York case that went to trial, a state judge is currently considering whether to throw out his conviction and halt his sentencing.
“For the first time in American history, an American president has corrupted our very democracy and the rule of law,” Luttig said Wednesday. “And he escaped safely on November 5, 2024.”
Mr. Luttig, who was placed on the bench by President George H.W. He has emerged as one of the most prominent conservative opponents of Trump in recent years, testifying before the House of Representatives on Sunday. 6 committees.
He endorsed Vice President Harris in the August presidential election, calling her the only major candidate “who can claim the role of defender and protector of American democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law.” insisted.
Trump won both the electoral vote and the popular vote in the November election, according to Decision Desk Headquarters. Ruttig said the result was “terrible for the country.”
“But sometimes people have to learn the hard way,” the former judge said. And that's what's happening.
