Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee called the “send her to jail” chants aimed at former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “repulsive” and urged President Biden to avoid setting off a chain of politically-charged legal battles following the conviction of former President Trump.
“They can still do the right thing and maybe put the genie back in the bottle,” the Republican said in an interview with Fox News Digital on Monday.
“This New York conviction contains numerous reversible errors. [Manhattan District Attorney Alvin] “I believe that Mr. Bragg’s office and those handling this case on appeal can and should admit error on appeal and walk away from this case entirely and let it go.”
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Republican senators, led by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), said they would not allow the Senate to function and achieve Democratic priorities after former President Trump was convicted. (Getty Images)
Last month, Trump was convicted by a New York jury on all 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Lee led several Republican senators in a pledge to not go along with Senate Democrats’ arguments following the verdict.
“Strong language is not enough. Those who have turned our justice system into a political cudgel must be held accountable. We will no longer cooperate with Democrats’ legislative priorities and nominations, and we call on all concerned senators to join us in this position,” he announced at the time.
“You can’t have a guilty verdict and then act like nothing happened. You can’t act like it’s business as usual from now on,” the senator said.
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Sen. Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, spoke at a Senate Judiciary Committee amendments hearing on Nov. 30, 2023. (Bill Clark)
“This pledge is an attempt to leverage that message,” he explained.
So far, 14 senators have joined him, including Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines (R-Montana) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who is running to succeed retiring House Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as Republican leader.
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Former President Trump returns to court shortly before hearing the jury’s verdict in his criminal trial at Manhattan Criminal Court, Thursday, May 30, 2024, in New York City. (Pool photo by Justin Lane/via Associated Press)
“I think as time goes on, we’re going to continue to see more Republican senators,” Lee predicted.
He noted that Democratic lawmakers have not responded much to the issue and have not paid much attention to it, saying, “As this issue gains momentum, we’ll see how much they feel about it.”
“We’re still a minority within a minority council,” he said, but he expects that to change in the future.
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“I’m sure Jon Tester feels it. I’m sure Sherrod Brown feels it,” the Utah senator added, referring to the pressure he is feeling to oppose convicting Trump. The two senators are part of a group of Democratic incumbents in tough re-election battles.
Lee also rejected the idea that a promise to increase the non-security budget and not fund any “partisan legal battles” would cause a government shutdown.
“This certainly doesn’t make a government shutdown any more likely than it would have been otherwise,” he said, adding that he expects a stopgap funding bill will be needed when current budget plans expire in September.
The White House did not provide comment to Fox News Digital for this story.
