Lara Trump downplays hush money charges as simple ‘bookkeeping error’
Lara Trump downplayed the criminal charges against her father-in-law Donald Trump as a mere "bookkeeping error."
The Republican National Committee co-chair appeared Wednesday on Sean Hannity's Fox News program, where she suggested Manhattan prosecutors were engaged in election interference for trying the former president on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up alleged hush money payments to adult movie actress Stormy Daniels, reported HuffPost.
"Everyone can see what this is about," Lara Trump said. "They have, and are forcing, Donald Trump to sit in a courtroom — this is a former president of the United States, the current nominee for the Republican side of the aisle for president — for weeks on end. For what, Sean? They claim a bookkeeping error — really?"
“This is insane," she added. "We can all see exactly what this is all about and what the goal of this is. Of course, it’s to keep Donald Trump from the campaign trail."
Prosecutors allege in their indictment that Trump directed his then-attorney Michael Cohen, who has already served nearly three years in prison after pleading guilty in the scheme, to pay Daniels off in the weeks before the 2016 election to ensure her silence about an extramarital affair.
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Trump then allegedly falsified business records by reimbursing Cohen in a series of transactions described as payment for legal services.
Trump has denied all the allegations.
The ex-president's campaign circulated talking points ahead of the trial, which started Monday, directing surrogates to describe the case as a "a full-frontal assault on American Democracy and the Constitution" and a "witch hunt," and recommending that supporters do not refer to the case as a "hush money case," but to instead describe it as "entries in the company’s records."
‘Hypocritical’ Mitch McConnell blasted after fit about ‘ignoring’ Senate procedure
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) complained that Democrats had ignored Senate procedures after they voted down two articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
In a vote along party lines, Democrats managed to table the two articles of impeachment. Republicans cried foul because the move circumvented a Senate trial.
"We've set a very unfortunate precedent here," McConnell said following the vote. "This means that the Senate can ignore, in effect, the House's impeachment."
"And by doing what we just did, we have, in effect, ignored the directions of the House, which were to have a trial," he added. "No evidence, no procedure, this is a day that's not a proud day in the history of the Senate."
In a move that broke Senate precedent, then-Majority Leader McConnell refused to grant a hearing to Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court in 2016. The decision marked a significant shift in the handling of Supreme Court nominations.
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In August 2016, McConnell expressed pride in blocking Obama's nominee, a sentiment echoed by the 11 Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who also opposed any proceedings for Garland.
"One of my proudest moments was when I looked Barack Obama in the eye and I said, 'Mr. President, you will not fill the Supreme Court vacancy,'" McConnell said in a speech at the time.
Critics called the minority leader hypocritical after his remarks on Wednesday.
"Isn't Mitch McConnell being rather hypocritical in saying the Senate should have respected the wishes of the House for an impeachment trial?" Ben McCrory asked on X (formerly Twitter).
"McConnell can shove it on precedence and the institution. He’s done enough to break that body and this country," another commenter wrote.
